


Frozen Harvest

by Helen1969



Series: Et in Arcadia, Ego [1]
Category: Captain Harlock, 新竹取物語 1000年女王 | Shin Taketori Monogatari: Sen-nen Joou | Queen Millennia - All Media Types, 銀河鉄道９９９ | Ginga Tetsudou 999 | Galaxy Express 999
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-06-05 22:12:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 118,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6725524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helen1969/pseuds/Helen1969
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following on from the CGI film, Yama is now Captain Harlock... but the Arcadia and her new captain just cannot catch a break - a re-supply run comes across a mysterious cargo ship which dumps its cargo on a deserted ice world, and their investigation uncovers a terrible secret... When two rescued rebels from Lar Metal come aboard, Harlock, Kei and the crew find themselves caught up in the start of a terrible plan to "save" humanity - at any cost. And behind this, an ancient, long forgotten foe begins to stir...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

It always took a few moments for me to wake up properly, and recently, in those first few moments, I'd developed an unreasoning panic before I fully opened both eyes and realised that I wasn't blind... I opened my left eye and relaxed, looking around surroundings which were still largely unfamiliar. Small sidelights above and to the side dimly illuminated a room that was the size of a small ballroom, highlighting a large ornate desk in front of what had to be the most useless picture window of all time, given that the outside of the ship was permanently shrouded in billowing clouds of dark matter. Despite the size of the room, the heavy, ornate furnishings and baroque embellishments gave the place a darkly oppressive, claustrophobic feel.

I shifted awkwardly, my right arm more than slightly numb. Easing it gently from underneath the delightful weight on top of it only provoked a serious attack of pins and needles. Given that the culprit seemed to finally be getting some much-needed rest, I made a valiant attempt to stop myself from whimpering like a girl, at least until the deceitful little villain feigning sleep shifted considerately (and quite deliberately) to allow blood to rush back into my fingers, and then had the temerity to smirk slightly against my shoulder at an unscripted intake of breath - though that was as much due to being suddenly and painfully reminded of a couple of cracked ribs and more bruises than I cared to count which hadn't yet healed fully.

I distinctly remembered that despite starting somewhere over near the antique chaise-longue next to the desk - and yes, there was still a pack of bandages on the floor that had rolled under the table, that I could be pretty sure matched the one wrapped around my ribs right now. But if memory served, there should have been a trail of clothing and assorted weaponry marking a haphazard route to the bed. Said floor was distinctly lacking in informal decoration - except for a small neat pile near the bed when I shifted slightly to look down with my one good eye, having spied the top of a pair of thigh-length black boots.

'Tell me you didn't get up in the night just to tidy up our mess?' I couldn't resist grinning as I dropped a light kiss on the top of the head that was currently nestled on my shoulder. That elicited a slight squirm.

'There's nothing wrong with being organised,' was the muffled reply. I wanted to protest as a delightful warm weight moved away slightly, and from under corn-coloured bangs, cobalt blue eyes stared up at me, studying, and then softening. A sensual mouth curved into what I already knew to be an all too rare genuine smile. 'You were really reaching for something to break the awkward silence, weren't you?' Kei's hand gently reached out to trace the pitted burn scars under my now sightless right eye.

'That obvious?' I repeated her gesture under the healing cut on her cheek - thankfully already fading, unlike the slice across mine that my brother had left me with - slightly less than couple of weeks or so before, but on a ship traveling IN-skip, with no real point of reference, a fortnight can feel like an eternity. 'Hadn't got much beyond "good morning" so don't credit me with too much imagination.'

She'd propped her chin up on one hand and lay there quietly, just watching me. Not warily, but curious. I mirrored the pose, and let my free hand trace the line of her collarbone - far too prominent; she didn't eat enough - and over her shoulder, lightly touching the darker scar that ran across it and onto her back. I'd seen that, and others far worse, over the past few days, and not all of them were battle scars. Some of them made me understand finally just why someone would want to wipe out their whole past - or why Harlock - the other Harlock - had so poor an opinion of the human race. Heaven help the people responsible for them if I ever get my hands on them – though I had enough sense to keep that last sentiment to myself - I didn't fancy being slapped down onto the deck like a wet kipper again by a woman who'd been taking care of herself for far too long because no-one else would.

'Beside, it wasn't that awkward.' I meant to drop a kiss on her cheek, not wanting to spook her, but she move her head oh so slightly for her lips to brush mine. She seemed to delight in confounding expectations - Kei was Kei, and as I was quickly learning, she didn't hold back once she'd committed herself. I thought I knew who I had to thank for that attitude; I'd seen her fight and had a pretty good idea who'd trained her. I pulled away eventually only because we both had to be on the bridge shortly and I didn't really fancy a cold shower. 'I keep being surprised you don't bolt for the door as soon as you have the chance.' That earned me a punch on one of the few spots I had left unbruised.

'Fishing for compliments won't get you anywhere, rookie.' Her fingers traced the line of my scar back to rest gently under my eye again. 'You know, we've got contacts on some of the fringe worlds - maybe if we can find a decent doctor...'

'I appreciate the thought, but the scanners in the med bay were pretty clear on the diagnosis: the overflash from Isora's blaster fried the nano-camera and it took the optic nerve with it when the transmitter burned out.' As if on cue my eye started itching again but slender fingers stronger than they looked caught mine before I started scratching at it again. 'It's fine, I can cope - it didn't seem to slow Harlock down much.'

An unladylike snort told me what she thought of that. 'Harlock had a hundred years to learn to deal with it. You're going to have to relearn a lot of things pretty damn quickly if you don't want to be blindsided quite literally in your first firefight.' Her long fingers laced with mine. 'Guess I'm going to have to take you in hand after all - sure as hell the moment I take my eyes off you for five minutes you're in trouble!'

From anyone else that might have stung, but she also had a point. 'It wasn't that long ago it took two trained soldiers to stop you from tearing my head off. Yet you've had my back since we broke out of the brig to take back the ship. I don't think I could have held the crew together these past two weeks without you. I don't know what the hell I did to deserve it, but I'll take it.'

'I've also had you _on_ your back...' she quipped.

'...and in the hot tub, and over the desk... and turret 12 probably needs to unsee a few things...' I added with a grin. It got me a pillow in the gut. 'Oof.'

'Idiot. You came back. You didn't have to. You could have walked away - saving forty condemned pirates didn't save the world - hell, it probably cost more lives getting out of the solar system than you saved. But you came back, and you stepped up.' Her free hand brushed away a stray lock of hair that was threatening to fall over my good eye. 'A lot of people wouldn't consider this trading up.'

'Depends on your point of view,' I replied softly. 'It wasn't as though there was much to go back to - my brother wanted me dead. Nami was gone, and I'd not exactly made many friends in the fleet.' I hadn't wanted it to sound quite so self-pitying, and winced. Kei shook her head slightly, an oddly familiar gesture I couldn't quite place.

'Hey - it's just me here. If you need to wallow for a bit, I won't judge. I've seen what happens to the totally repressed stoic, remember?' She placed a slim, elegant finger on the tip of my nose and hit me again with that devastating smile. 'I like you, but start any of that macho bullshit and I'll just have to knock it out of you.'

'Great. I'll go down in the annals as the first pirate captain who can get his ass handed to him by a girl...' That cost me another playful thump on my arm. 'Ow. Bossy cow! You know damn well I won't hit back!'

She grinned cheekily. 'Which is sweet but utterly impractical. Not all bounty hunters are male. And I'm hardly a girl; we're the same age, dummy. Or do you actually like some of the older guys calling you "kid"?'

Since I'd turned twenty-four only a few weeks ago, waiting on a barren rock for six months with only bad coffee to celebrate with, I had to admit she had a point. But then again, compared to most of these guys - even Eddie, the youngest at twenty and change had more mileage on him than I did - I was just a kid; a bratty, entitled idiot with a terminal decision making disorder. 'Can't blame them for thinking it I guess. Harlock left me his ship, his name, his crew. It's a hell of a lot to live up to - hell, I don't even know if I deserve any of it. But I won't let him or any of you down if I can avoid it.'

'Anything you left out of that list?'

I grinned. 'Now who's fishing?' She stuck her tongue out at me for that. 'Now you come to mention it, for some strange reason a beautiful, smart, bossy, courageous pirate seems to think I'm worth something.'

The little headshake and almost inaudible huff she gave that comment came straight from her mentor. 'I knew there was something off about you from day one, but just couldn't figure you out. Guess I should have realised it's hard to get a feel for someone who isn't comfortable in their own skin. Thankfully, once you pulled your head out of your arse, you turned out to be almost tolerable.'

'Tolerable, huh? Is that the best I can get?'

' _Almost_ tolerable,' she qualified with a teasing grin. I stored that one away for later retaliation in the gym. My compulsively hyper-efficient tough-as-nails XO was proving to have a sense of mischief. I was enjoying watching it too much to take offense; it had been so long since I'd had a friend - or lover -I could relax with I'd almost forgotten what it felt like. What little ship's gossip – (otherwise known as "Ali's big mouth") - I'd heard about Kei's past led me to suspect that our unexpected companionship over the past few days was novel to her as well, so I was damn well going to run with it, and screw the rules. For once in my life I was making someone else happy instead of miserable. First time for everything- except of course running headlong into a situations without pausing for breath. Yeah. That was something I just never seemed to stop doing.

'I wish I had been here on my own terms from the start,' I said quietly. I smiled and kissed her again, lazily, just brushing her lips which parted on a soft sigh under mine. Then I just rested my cheek briefly against hers, taking in the scent of her hair – clean and fresh, like lemon and roses. 'For one thing I might at least have been able to date you properly.'

'Properly?' She smiled up at me. 'Seriously? – look around you – we're on a battleship in the middle of nowhere: trust me, I don't hold it against you for not asking me out for dinner and a movie first...'

'Well I think I might be able to wrangle a candle-lit dinner if I can sweet-talk the cook.'

She laughed softly, if a little sadly. ''I hope you never lose this,' she whispered. 'We've fed on despair for so long, most of us have forgotten what hope feels like. The Captain...' She fell silent. I leaned closer to offer a shoulder, which was accepted with a quiet grace I could only envy, even when it grieved me to see. We had that in common if nothing else; some wounds take a while to heal, and betrayal - well, it takes many forms. I didn't think I'd be grieving for a commander who'd have let me undertake a risky job with no backup but an assassin. Or held out dreams of a blue Earth and a clean slate, only to jerk them away leaving them shattered without so much as an apology. Except... well. Maybe I did understand; the need to be accepted, loved... valued. _Sometimes we cling hardest to the people who hurt us the most._

 _And sometimes...sometimes, when you think you've reached rock bottom and have lost everything and everyone you cared about, there's an unexpected ray of light in the darkness_. Last night, watching Kei sleep I'd almost broken out into a cold sweat thinking how perilously close I'd come now on two occasions to throwing that light away. I was more than a little thankful she only knew about one of them, and definitely feeling guilty about not having admitted to the first of them yet. Right now however was possibly not the best time to confess I had briefly considered removing a potential threat to my mission back on Tokarga. Thankfully for both of us, I hadn't been that stupid. I'd like to think the captain knew me for a better man than that when he sent us down to the planet alone, but guessed that was one more question that might never be answered. It probably wasn't complementary any which way I looked at it.

Any moral dilemma I faced about 'fessing up to that momentary lapse of decency however was neatly forestalled by someone's communicator beeping insistently. 'Yours or mine?' I asked - but Kei was already squirming far too enticingly over me to get to the neatly stacked pile of her clothing which she proceeded to scatter about with abandon whilst I contemplated both a pair of long legs that seemed to go on forever, and the realisation that my immediate future was going to include that icy shower after all.

'This had better be good,' she snapped frostily into a comm unit. Yattaran's voice on the other end didn't seem even remotely apologetic in reply.

'Ali picked up a ship on the medium range sensors when we came out of IN-skip- might not have spotted us, but you might wanna get your lazy ass up here before we're in range.'

'Careful who you're calling lazy, you overw-' whatever she might have called her opposite number was lost briefly as she tried to find her undershirt.

'Oh - and Kei - tell our rookie captain to get some pants on and get his ass up here as well.'

I'll give her this; her feigned indignation was far better than mine might have been. 'What makes you think I know where he is?' she snapped. Yattaran's smirking chuckle could still be heard as she threw the comm at the wall. 'Asshole.'

Wordlessly, I handed her the other communicator, and she took her own device from my fingers, closed her eyes briefly and counted to ten under her breath. I decided to let discretion be the better part of valour at this point and just went looking for my boots. Dealing with being ordered around by my first mate however, was going to be a priority... _after_ I grabbed a replacement comm unit from stores...

* * *

I reached the bridge and took up my station at the helm, bypassing the empty throne-like chair where Harlock's heavy black gravity cloak still lay, his gun-belt and sabre rifle still propped against one arm. Kei was already in place complaining under her breath about someone - presumably our resident loudmouth Ali - messing around with her station. A soft rustling sound and a low "caw" were my only warnings that someone considered me to be their official station. I managed to brace myself in time, as Harlock's bird landed its not inconsiderable weight on my shoulder and began to preen. I hadn't been able to figure out how the damned thing could eat with that skinny neck, but from the feel of it, the bird wasn't going short of a meal or three. Resisting the urge to lean on the wheel, I crossed my arms instead and hoped I wouldn't topple over. 'Status?'

Kei looked up from her console. 'Not a patrol. Looks like some kind of cargo ship. Carlos – can you get any kind of reading on it?'

'No armaments,' Carlos called back up cheerfully from the lower bridge. Him I liked: a big guy with long dark hair held off his face by a thin leather band, he was one of the more affable crew members - unlike Ali – six foot of scowling blond muttonchops with a chip on his shoulder the size of a small tree, giving me the stink-eye from his station when he thought I wasn't looking... 'She's big – over 1000 metres long. Standard drive signature, but the silhouette isn't in our files.' Nothing obviously out of the ordinary, but for some reason as I looked at the screen, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickling.

'Easy pickings,' Yattaran rumbled to my left, rubbing his hands gleefully. 'Might as well give her a shot over her bow and see what she's got for us.' His hand moved towards the remote turret control for the forward battery, but stopped as I rapped out a quick 'Wait.'

'You do know we're pirates? We're _supposed_ to plunder our way through space...?' the fat man asked with a decidedly sarcastic tone, which I ignored as I moved over to Kei's station.

'Give it a rest,' Kei snapped back at him. 'If the captain thinks this feels off...'

I stepped in quickly to avoid another lengthy argument between the two. Once they got going, it was like pulling two kids apart in a playground. 'I just want another sweep. Kei – check for life signs. Get me some kind of head count if you can – Isora had several Q ships commissioned to look for you guys a couple of years ago, I'd just like to make sure we won't run into a platoon that's been out of touch with home for a while. If it's cargo, the life signs should be minimal – most of the newer ships are automated for deep space runs.'

Kei's hands ran quickly and expertly over her console. 'Strange... large biomass reading – concentrated in the main hold– but no life signs. There's a lot of organic material over there but whatever it is, it's dead or otherwise inert.'

'Harlock'

Mimay's voice, soft, barely above a whisper, and I didn't respond until Kei dug a swift elbow into my still healing ribs, eliciting a grunt. 'Oi, she means you,' she hissed. Flushing slightly and hoping no-one from the lower bridge could see their captain blushing like a kid with his hand caught in the sweet jar, I turned too quickly, forgetting I had several pounds weight of muscle and feathers sitting on my right shoulder. I almost over-balanced, catching the wheel just in time. With a squawk the bird flew back in high dudgeon to his usual perch on the back of the captain's chair. This however didn't quite cover the sound of Yattaran choking back a smirking laugh, or a heart-felt sigh from Kei.

Tall, slender, pale skinned with huge pupil-less eyes and long silky silvery hair, no-one would ever mistake the last of the Nibelung for human, despite the superficial similarities between our races. But she was breathtakingly beautiful in her alien, cat-like poise. That alone made me slightly uncomfortable, even without her tendency to look straight at me as though she always knew exactly what I was thinking. In the last few days I'd had to add the uncomfortable sensation that she was the only person on the ship who treated me as though I was Harlock – _her_ Harlock - as though nothing had really changed. If I had to be completely honest, I had been avoiding being alone with her. Letting Kei bully me into finally letting her fix up my battered ribs after we'd finally shaken the fleet had been a slightly desperate move to politely get Mimay out of Harlock's – my - quarters without giving offence – or running for the hills. Given how _that_ evening had played out, I probably owed her a 'thank you...' However all I could manage was 'Mimay?'

Her head inclined slightly in acknowledgement. 'The Central Computer wants to talk to you. Something about this ship is bothering him...'

Arcadia's Central Computer; I'd only been in the room twice, and it had been un-nerving both times. At least his tendency to chatter non-stop on a frequency it seemed only I could hear had been mercifully curbed over the past few days - although I really was going to have to stop avoiding the difficult conversations.

The earlier sense of unease I'd felt seemed even stronger, like a cold wind blowing across my neck. 'I'll go. Kei – with me – Yattaran, take the helm. Keep back but track it – there must be a planet somewhere on that heading if it's dropped out of IN-skip.' I strode off the bridge as confidently as I could, Kei and Mimay both following in my wake. One of Isora's early lessons: always look as though you know what you're doing, especially when you don't.

Mimay caught up with me faster than Kei did, and walked at my side. 'Are you sure that she should be included in this?' she asked softly. 'Your personal feelings...'

'Are nothing to do with it.' I hadn't meant to snap, and winced as it came out rather more harshly than I'd intended. 'Kei's the best qualified to take over if anything happens to me. Harlock might have kept his secrets close, I can't afford to. This crew deserves better than that.' Kei drew level with us then, and I fell silent. I saw her give Mimay a sharp sideways glance, and she slipped her hand into mine, giving it a squeeze I wasn't sure was possessive or reassuring. Kei being Kei, probably both. But any further musings were forestalled by our arrival at the door to the Central Computer room.

* * *

The Arcadia's central computer was the true heart of the ship, to my mind at least. The alien Dark Matter engine powered the ship, but the beating heart was here, in a towering cathedral at least two storeys high; a massive central column rising from the centre of a large hall, like the trunk of some ancient tree; a multitude of cables and strange extrusions running to it – or from it – like the roots or branches. Behind an inner wall of databanks, the mind that had created the Deathshadow 4 and her sister ships a century ago quietly and without fuss kept the ship's systems in order, permitting the operation of a capital class battleship over a kilometre long to function with a bare minimum of crew members.

Oyama Toshiro. Who'd died on the bridge of his greatest creation, only to be revived as its heart and soul when it was transformed by the dark matter that had bound captain, engineer and the last of the Nibelung into an immortal ghost ship. By rights I should be changing my name to Van der Vecken...

The computer made a welcoming gurgle as I walked with Kei through a gap in the outer ring of databanks and towards that towering central column. Whilst in theory I could "talk" to the computer from anywhere on the ship, it felt only polite to do so in person. Well, that, and I didn't need a reputation for hearing voices on top of everything else I was juggling right now... Harlock had spent a lot of his time in this room. Mimay was just as often to be found curled along one of the massive branches, from what little I'd seen. The three of them had been inseparable for a hundred years. And now they were two. With a wet behind the ears interloper replacing their dearest friend.

There was a surge in the rumbling from the central column, and the red lights flickered softly in a gentle negation.

'He says-' Mimay began. I raised my free hand slightly.

'I know.' Giving Kei's hand a squeeze, I let go, and walked forwards slowly until I stood directly in front of a circling red light. 'I think we understand each other, don't we, Tochiro?' The light circled green and a low, major tone answered. I smiled sadly. 'I'm sorry he didn't stay. And I should have been down here earlier than this. Forgive me.'

A rumbling "no". I reached out to touch one of the nearest branches, expecting cold metal, but it was warm to the touch. 'You accepted me that day on the bridge. You, and Kei,' I said softly, knowing only the computer would hear. 'I can't replace Harlock – no-one can – but hopefully we can be friends.' I'd bowed my head without noticing whilst I spoke, and it was a conscious effort to lift my face up to look up at the graceful, organic curves of the ship's heart. As if I was trying to look him in the eye. 'I think that's the only way this can work.'

A circling green light and an accepting hum. I smiled. 'Now what is it that troubles you?'

A wave of icy cold seemed to pass straight through me; bone-chilling, breath-taking. I was gasping for breath and heard both Kei and Mimay struggling likewise. It was a cold that felt as though someone had reached deep inside and laid icy fingers on my soul, half-pulling it from my body. It passed, slowly, accompanied by a howl of anguish from the Arcadia that left me shaking. In my mind's eye, the image I saw was of a cold blue flame, rushing out across the galaxy leaving world after world lifeless in its path. Behind it was only darkness.

Sight, sense and sound returned to normal. The underlying hum of the central computer had a double-beat that slowly brought me back to myself. Kei reached for me, her hand trembling, looking white and shaken. 'What was that?'

Holding onto her shoulder rather more tightly than I intended, I shook my head. 'I'm not sure, but I want a time radar trace on the origin of that ship, and we're going to see what its destination is.' I straightened, and released Kei from the death grip I'd had on her. 'Get back to the bridge and start the trace. I'll join you shortly.'

She nodded sharply and left at a run. As for me, I turned to look at Mimay, standing quietly near the main core of the computer. 'Do you have any idea what that was?'

She shook her head, silvery hair shivering softly down the translucent diaphanous veil she wore over her flight suit. 'I saw only what you did. Our friend senses far more of the universe around us than we do... However...'

'However?'

She placed a long-fingered hand on the nearest branch. 'He sees things differently. What it means I do not know. Except that there are dangers out there that perhaps we should have pushed Harlock to take more seriously... She bowed her head. 'We never expected to need to deal with them.'

In my new quarters, buried at the bottom of a draw in the captain's desk was a hand-held detonator for 100 dimensional oscillators carefully laid on a hundred worlds and capable of allegedly re-setting the universe. I personally hoped I'd have the courage never to use it. Harlock had had a different hope. 'So I'm expected to clean up the messes he avoided facing?'

Her head stayed bowed, and I walked away at that point, not trusting myself to stay civil. Behind me, the central computer's hum took on a tone that felt suspiciously like an electronic "I told you so."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

'…so the captain pushes her off his lap, zips her top up, and as calmly as you please says "I'm afraid I ordered a steak, not the whole cow!'

I waited at the foot of the stairs to the upper bridge for a moment before heading up, almost drinking in the laughter that followed Yattaran's anecdote. It hadn't been a common occurrence on the ship during my all too brief stay. From the levity I guessed Kei had chosen to keep quiet about that little incident in the computer room. She smiled a greeting at me as I walked over to the wheel. 'Sir. The ship's heading towards the 5th planet in the nearest system. It's an ice world – nothing there, not even a staging post, so what it's delivering and to whom we can't even guess. Are we following?'

'Is there another possible destination?' She shook her head, and I leaned over to check the readings on the navigation screen. A cargo ship… just a damn cargo ship… so what still had my neck prickling and the central computer spooked? 'If we make a short IN-skip hop, we can be ahead of them and in the shadow of the planet. If they're on the level, we can be better placed for an ambush. If they're not…' I trailed off.

'We're well placed for an ambush,' Yattaran chuckled and slapped me on the back. For the second time that day I had to grab the wheel for support. 'Like your thinking, kid…'

'Don't ya mean "Captain Kid"?' Ali sniggered from next to him. With Yattaran at the helm he was at the first mate's station.

'Good of you to volunteer if we need to go down to that rock, Ali,' Kei walked over and clapped him on the back with her best false bright smile. Laughter at Ali's joke turned on the man himself just as quickly. He scowled at her and turned to me.

'Captain… You gonna let her…'

Oh... "captain" was it, when he wanted back-up against Kei? I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. 'Ali - make your damned mind up - either I'm an ineffective idiot, in which case why would I have any influence with the XO…? or I'm your damn captain, in which case I'd be an idiot to undermine my XO when she's just yanked your chain for insubordination.' There was a particular look Isora used to give me when I'd some something particularly stupid. I tried it out. 'Your call.'

It seemed to work, because he actually muttered a grudging apology as he strode off the bridge to let Yattaran take his place. Kei gave me an approving little nod. 'Listen up people, you know the drill. Back to your stations, and keep 'em peeled for anything coming at us out of the black. This ship might not be flying alone, so stay alert!' She called out.

I took the helm over from Yattaran. 'Mimay?' I called out. Behind me I felt the dark matter engine power up from idling - my entire body felt as though it was vibrating in tune with the engine, and I noticed Kei and Yattaran shiver slightly as well... Huh. Guess we were all paying a price for being on board when Harlock let rip with that final blast of dark matter... 'Arcadia - go!'

It was a short jump to the destination, and we made the small skip without incident. An hour or so later we were waiting just outside of low orbit, sensors planted to relay the view back to Kei's console, as the cargo vessel flew in heading for the planet's northern hemisphere.

'There's absolutely nothing on this rock,' Yattaran muttered. 'What the hell can they be dropping off?'

'Whatever it is, they're done. It's on the move,' Kei replied. 'I'm reading the holds as empty, now.' She looked over to me. 'Captain?'

I appreciated the vote of confidence, but could have done without being placed on the spot… 'Guess it's time for Ali to show us how much he enjoys the cold,' I said, as lightly as I could manage. Earning a couple of smirks from the men in acknowledgement. A small win… 'You with me?'

'Freezing cold ice world? Wouldn't miss it for the world…' she quipped. 'I'll meet you in the hangar deck in ten. Don't forget your suit this time.'

She was off with a purposeful swing to her hips as she walked that was almost impossible to ignore. I was about to follow her from the bridge when a hand on my arm pulled me up. 'Oi.' Yattaran. He jerked his head in Kei's direction as he let go of my arm. 'Two things before you go, rookie,' he said, very quietly so that only I could hear.

'Which are?' I wasn't in the mood to start an argument so I let the "rookie" slide for now.

'Break her heart, and I'll break your neck. We clear?' His expression was deadly serious for once.

Why was no-one worried about _her_ breaking _my_ heart? Huh. Maybe they'd cheer her on if she did... Gaia knew, the poor shriveled thing had been torn into enough pieces recently already... and he wasn't the first person to threaten bodily harm if I hurt their darling XO... who could easily twist me into a pretzel if I offended her, so why the hell they felt the need to keep threatening me was a bloody mystery... But the change in attitudes was a positive, at least, so I offered him my hand. 'If I do, I'll let you,' I told him, equally quietly. He gave me a sharp, searching look from behind those thick glasses, and I held his gaze as well as I could with only one eye. He seemed satisfied by what he saw, as he took my offered hand and gripped it. Rather harder than he probably needed to. 'And the other thing?' I asked after he'd released my hand. I managed to resist shaking the life back into my fingers.

'Ah. You might want a bit more firepower than you're packing. Feel better if you'd holster something with a bit more kick than that pistol you've got.' He nodded over towards the captain's chair, where the cloak and Harlock's weapon belts still lay. It was on my way, so I stopped next to it and looked down, for the first time since that day. The sabre-rifle I ignored for now. It certainly packed a punch, but they didn't teach officers these days to carry them, and I risked tripping over the damn thing without practice. A lot of it. In private.

The pistol however was at least more user-friendly, and I picked up the gun-belt with the holster still attached. The leather was thick and heavy, worn in places, but well cared for and supple. The pistol grip was similarly worn, but again well cared for. On the metal trim running up the centre of the butt-end was a very faint "3". Even fainter, on the side of the weapon when I pulled it slightly out of the holster, I could just make out the words "Oyama Tochiro, Grape Valley, Titan, 25/1/2-" - the date was worn into illegibility... Swapping it for my own rather smaller belt and holster I settled the weight at my hip, and tugged the skull buckle a little to the side. Oddly, I think I'd expected it to weigh far more. Giving Yattaran a nod of thanks, which was duly waved off with a gruff headshake, I made my way to the hanger.

* * *

 

'We'll take the bullet,' Kei decided, staring at the assembled choice of ships. She pointed to a sleek, but utilitarian little craft next to the three-armed workboat we'd used on Tokarga. 'It's armed, just in case.' She'd changed into a thicker black flightsuit with a red jacket over the top similar to the one I'd found laid out for me in my locker... I gathered she'd been bullying Maji - our armourer - into improving my wardrobe, and I was now wearing a dark blue flightsuit with some serious environmental controls under a similarly coloured jacket with silver piping and an altogether ostentatious skull and crossbones on the front... I'd hidden my other set - anything comfortable had a distressing tendency to vanish if left unattended...

I entered the vessel at practically the same time as Ali, who tried to elbow me out of the way as I headed for the cockpit. Given that I felt I'd taken about as much shit from the mouthy bastard over the past fortnight as I could handle for now, I felt no qualms about sticking my own elbow out and "accidentally" jabbing him in the gut just hard enough to generate a pained "oof" and allow me to slip into the co-pilot's chair with a satisfied smirk. Kei looked over, first at me, then at Ali, and let out a heartfelt sigh, shaking her head slightly.

'Play nice,' she whispered, as she began the pre-flight checks. 'Getting into bitch-fights with the crew is beneath you. Besides, slapping Ali down's my favourite sport.'

'I heard that, lady. You ain't planning on lettin' your boy-toy fly us down are you?' he grumbled back at her, banging his ass down in the rear seat hard enough to shake the bearings. 'Does he even know which end of the plane is which yet?'

'That'd be "captain boy-toy" to you, and I'm sitting right here,' I snapped at him. Kei laid a hand on my arm and gave me her emphatic "don't rise to it" headshake. I leaned back and tried to count to ten.

'Him or me, you cranky bastard. Take your pick...' Kei shot back. I looked over my shoulder in time to see him hold his hands together in mock prayer.

'Barf bags are under the seat, kid,' he offered with a sickly grin. 'The way she flys, you might need 'em!'

'The way I fly? Ali, I've seen you fly, remember? There's a reason no-one lets you handle anything but the workboat...'

Kei's voice was heading up the octaves, so I played the Captain card. 'If you could both just focus on the job in hand for once...?' I drawled, in a tone I'd learned from Isora over the years, when it was usually part of the "reason you're a total fuck-up" performances. It had the desired effect of getting a startled and guilty look from Kei, who hated being called out on her professionalism, and I promised myself I'd make it up to her later... and it did - at least momentarily - shut Ali up.

* * *

 

Kei was a skilled pilot - I ached to see how she'd handle one of the new fighters the fleet had put into service a couple of years ago – they handled like a dream in the hands of a good pilot, and I'd enjoy the contest. What it wasn't was quiet, but once it was apparent we were both tuning him out, Ali shut up long before we landed. Kei selected a reasonably flat hillside not far from the last position we'd had for the ship.

'I'm not reading anything other than a massive amount of organic material all around us, most concentrated over there.' She gestured at the window, through which only the undulating snow-covered ground could be seen. 'Whatever it is, it's filling what was a deep valley.

Ali shivered, and since the door was still shut, not from the cold. 'You really think we should be stickin' our noses in?' he asked. 'Just sayin''.

'Yama?' Kei asked softly. I unbuckled the seatbelt and stood up, glad to stretch my legs. 'There's still time to walk away from this.'

'Humans have had their collective heads in the sand for too long,' I replied quietly. 'Too busy licking our wounds and creeping back from the frontier planets with our heads down. It's always been someone else's problem, or you can bury the truth under a hologram of lies. Or try to change the past like hitting a reset button on a computer game you're losing.' I looked from Kei, to Ali, holding both their gazes briefly. 'If anyone wants out, I won't stop them. But there's no place on my ship for anyone who won't step up when he has to.'

Kei lowered her head to hide a satisfied smile. Ali grunted, then laughed harshly. 'Sheesh. You're a wordy bastard – not like the last guy. Just hope you got the balls to back it up, kid.' He popped the hatch and stood in the doorway, barely blocking the icy blast of wind that rushed in. 'Well – you two kids coming or not?' He didn't wait for us, but jumped out into the searing cold.

* * *

 

Even with a full environment suit on, that cold chilled to the bone. The sky was clear; a misty blue. The planet had an atmosphere, but the cold made it hard to breathe unaided, so we all wore face masks. A fierce wind blew up the steep valley we looked down into, whipping up the ice crystals that lay thickly on the ground – hardened snow that crunched underfoot. It made for poor visibility, but in the end, we didn't need to see far. Ali tripped over something sticking out of a drift, and landed hard, swearing as he rubbed his knee when he sat back up. '…king planet,' was all I made out over the wind. I leaned down and tapped his mask, mouthing "comms" at him. Somewhat sheepishly he switched on his communicator. 'Tripped over a bloody rock.'

'Not a rock…' Kei was kneeling at the place Ali had fallen, brushing the icy snow from a long object sticking out of the drift. I cleared my face mask and tried to get a closer look – with only half my usual field of vision, I was beginning to appreciate some of the problems Harlock must have faced with one eye down. Couldn't say I was enjoying it much. I shifted position to get a better angle. For a moment, it just looked like a tree branch, but then the wind dropped, just for a moment, and without the whipped up snow in my face I could see it more clearly. Kei gasped, and frantically began to brush the snow from the rest of the drift, digging desperately. Ali joined her and I reached out to brush the drifting snow from the dead face of a young woman, naked, frozen stiff. An arm lay across her torso; not hers – it was muscular, hairy, and belonged to the middle-aged man Ali was uncovering - balding, with a large sagging paunch permanently frozen to his shrivelled genitals. No dignity here.

I stood up slowly, turning my back on the small mound of bodies Kei and Ali had uncovered. The ground sloped down ahead of me, and I walked to the edge of the snow line and bent down, on a hunch, and began digging the crumbling snow away with my hands, ignoring the cold that began to seep even through my gloves. Around me the wind howled as it picked up again, but failed to hide the horror that the pristine snow had covered: the ground in front of me was covered in bodies – all naked, all scattered like so much rubbish, dropped from a great height. Limbs were bent and twisted, frozen in the hours after being dumped in the positions they'd landed in. Remembering Kei's comment about the depth of the reading she'd taken, I realised the valley in front of me was filled almost to the brim, and had been for a long time: most of the bodies were frozen into the ice. But apart from the damage caused by the falls, I could see no mark of violence on them. No signs that any had been aware of the fall – I had a strong feeling they'd all been dead when they were dropped: part of me certainly hoped that was the case. I could see no signs of anyone struggling to survive.

'Yama?' Kei's voice over the intercom startled me out of my contemplation of the scene. 'Oh Gaia – Yama… there are children.' Her voice, normally so calm, cracked and broke into a choked sob on the last word, and I battled back against the wind to her side. She was on her knees at the side of three very small corpses – two little girls and a boy, none older than about seven or eight. I placed a hand gently on her shoulder, feeling her shuddering breaths as she struggled for a control I knew she hated to lose in public. After a while she placed her hand over mine, giving it a slight squeeze, and I felt her relax a little. I turned to Ali, who even through la frost-rimmed mask looked a little queasy.

'Take Kei's scanner, do a quick sweep. If this is as big a body dump as it looks…' He didn't argue this time, but took the offered instrument when Kei held it out to him. I stood back to let her get to her feet. 'OK?' She nodded, briefly. It was a lie, none of us was OK with this. Not if it was what it looked like.

'Captain?' It took a few moments to sink in that Ali was actually addressing me directly – I wasn't that happy at the circumstances that could occasion such a shift. I'd almost rather have been addressed as "kid". 'If the readings are correct, the mass is way more than that ship – or even thirty of them – could carry in volume. And that's if it was packed like a container-load of herring.' He swallowed hard. 'Captain - a lot of those bodies are very small...'

'That's tens – no – hundreds of thousands,' Kei whispered. 'Where did they come from?'

A half-remembered overheard conversation in a dusty bar came back to me. Someone had mentioned an evacuation ship, back on Heavy Meldar, as the Arcadia arrived. In the ensuing events, I'd forgotten why it had bothered me at the time. 'Kei, Ali – you've been out on the frontier for most of your lives – have you ever heard of anywhere taking in refugees from the outlying colonies?'

Kei answered first. 'I've heard people mention ships that would take you to a better life on other worlds, but figured it was just wishful thinking – The Captain mentioned once that he'd not found a single world where the terraforming had taken – apart from the early-settled worlds where they had enough resources to keep building city-domes, and they wouldn't take in a stray cat if they could avoid it.'

'Kei's right,' Ali said. 'Even if there were any ships, there's nowhere for anyone to go. Story I heard as a kid was that traders would show up, promise to take people offworld, to one of the better colonies, then stuff 'em out an airlock when they were off the known shipping routes. Easy money if you could stomach it.' He grinned ruthlessly behind his frosty faceplate. 'Captain used to love putting the fear of the Arcadia into those guys when he caught 'em.'

'I remember one of them,' Kei replied with a grim smile. 'A couple of years ago, on its way out of Tabito's solar system. Thankfully we caught up with it before they had chance to ditch their passengers. Captain gave them a bit of a talking to when he dropped them back home. Couple of lads fancied their chances offworld.' She looked down at the bodies underfoot. 'Someone should have given these guys that talk…' she said sadly. 'But no-one gives children a say in their fate.'

I caught sight of Ali's face just at that moment, and there was an odd look there that I felt I'd have to file away for later...

'Say – is this thing on the futz?' Ali gave the scanner a rough shake, prompting Kei to snatch it back from him with a muttered curse. 'I'm getting life readings now!'

Kei checked the scanner over whilst I peered over her shoulder. 'It's faint,' she replied. 'Could be a glitch.'

'Then again it might not be,' I said quietly. 'Where-' She pointed to planetary north. 'That way – past the bullet– about 200 yards.' I would have set off at a run, but Ali's earlier example made me a little more cautious. Crewmates in tow, I headed in the direction Kei indicated, adjusting as she called out changes in direction.

'Ali's right – are you sure that thing's working?' I asked after the third change. 'We don't seem to be getting any closer.'

Ali slapped me on the back. 'That'll be because they're moving, kid!' He pointed. In the distance, amid the swirling icy snow, I could just make out something dark. 'Maybe we get us some answers!'

* * *

 

By the time we reached the point where I'd seen the object in question, it had stopped moving. I almost tripped over it as we tried to find whatever it was we'd seen and tracked. I managed to stop from toppling over, and knelt down at what had tripped me up: Half buried in the snow, a woman – clothed this time, but only in a thin coverall. Ali helped me pick her up. She was pale, barely breathing.

'Ali – get her back to the ship.' I helped him shoulder the burden. Long auburn hair fell down over her face as he lifted her, and I reflexively brushed it back. Whoever she was, she was beautiful. About thirty-thirty five at a guess, and tall. 'Hurry!'

'Don't you touch her!'A shape leaped out from the drifting snow, trying to tackle Ali. I stepped in, and caught the guy before he could land a blow. Unfortunately I took most of his weight against me chest and the sudden stab of pain reminded me sharply of the cracked ribs I was still nursing. Biting back a hiss of pain, I wrestled the man to the ground without much difficulty – he was in far worse shape than I was for one thing. He sagged against me and I kept a tight hold. 'It's all right, you idiot. She's safe. You both are.'

There was no response; I guessed his frantic leap had taken most of his strength with it. 'Kei – a hand here? This guy's heavier than he looks.'

With one of us under each shoulder, we managed to stagger back to the bullet. Ali was already making the woman comfortable, under a couple of the emergency heat-blankets stashed in the back. Thankfully he didn't hesitate in rushing for the rest when he saw us wobbling in with her companion, who Kei and I just managed to lower beside her before our own legs gave out. I took the metallic blankets from Ali and covered the man. Like the woman, I placed his age in his early to mid thirties – black haired, grown collar length and unkempt as if he hadn't combed it in a while. Long nosed, pale, and with the chiselled good looks that suggested he didn't have any trouble with the ladies. Probably a little over 6 foot – about my height – but a little heavier built, judging from his weight. He wore similar coveralls to the woman, and in the light of the bullet's hanger, I noticed they both had numbers on them.

'Get them settled, 'I told Ali. 'We're taking off. Kei – get us out of here.' She nodded and headed for the flight seats, sliding easily into hers as she began the take-off sequence. She'd only just begun when a hot sizzling flash burned past my cheek, hitting the wall with a sparking crash. I dropped to the floor on instinct, closely followed by Ali, as another blaster bolt flashed past us. 'Who the fuck is shooting at us?'

'So much for life sign detectors!' Ali pointed past me to outside the still open cargo door – 'where did those bastards come from?' He rolled out of the doorway and got back to a kneeling position, pulled his pistol and began shooting. Closing in on our position were three human figures – at least, I thought they were human, until I saw Ali's direct hit do nothing to one of them except cause it to stagger slightly and carry on. 'What kind of armour are these guys wearing?'

I rolled myself out of trouble and stood up, sheltered behind the hatchway with Ali's bulk in front of me. 'Fuck knows, now get out of my line of fire!' I hadn't meant to scream at him, but at least it did the trick, as he dodged behind me. Pulling Harlock's dragoon pistol from its holster I took aim and fired.

OK. I hadn't expected the power of the damn thing. If not for Ali behind me, inadvertently propping me up, I'd have gone flying. But the result at the other end was gratifying enough. The one I hit practically disintegrated, which gave its companions pause. They hesitated – long enough for me to get a good look at their faces…

…which were not human. Where their faces should have been, there was just a massive circle – some kind of dial. It reminded me a little of my first look at the Arcadia's hardsuits, but there was no way in hell these were suited humans – their limbs, and the necks under oval heads, were far too thin. The joints also had a peculiar articulation – almost insectoid. But there was little time to examine them – the two remaining were already running towards us again, firing as they did so. 'Get the door!' I yelled to Ali. I lay down a few shots to give him some cover, braced this time against the dragoon's kickback. I felt him move past me to the door control, but even as he hit it, and the ramp began to lift, something was hurling itself into the hold and Ali was directly in its path. Without even thinking, I launched myself at it, tackling it with a full-body charge that I seriously regretted the moment I hit it dead centre mass. Gasping in pain, I realised I was grappling with one of the humanoid robots. Dimly I heard Ali shouting at Kei to get us in the air, as I tried to stop metallic hands from getting a grip on my throat.

'Hand over the fugitives.'

The voice was unexpectedly human, and took me completely by surprise. 'What?!'

'The fugitives. PS54709 and the rebel known as "Zero". You are in violation of…' Whatever it had to say was cut short as a well-placed kick from Ali sent it tumbling out of the ramp, which then began to close as we lifted. Rolling away from it as it shut, trying without much success to avoid lying on a possibly broken rib, I let Ali help me to sit up, and lean me against the hull wall. I didn't get a chance to thank him – he just gave me a curt nod, and went to take the co-pilot's place next to Kei. With the initial crisis over, I let my head lean back against the hull, and tried desperately not to pass out.

* * *

 

For the second time in a week Kei was helping me off with my shirt and tsking over my bruised torso. Except last time there hadn't been quite so much wincing at the state I was in. She ran the ultrasound scanner over my lower ribs. From the way she was nibbling at her lower lip, it didn't look good. Thankfully someone had given me a much welcome shot of something so I wasn't as worried as part of my fuddled brain was telling me I should be.

'Another inch to the left, and a fraction harder, that could have punctured a lung, you idiot.' She laid the scanner down and began to unwrap her earlier handwork. 'If you were still a crewman I'd be grounding you for a fortnight.'

'Guess that's you sleeping on the couch tonight, Captain!' Ali called out from the far side of the med bay. With the help of Eddie and Carlos, he was settling in the two rescued from the planet we'd left behind with an emergency IN-skip jump the moment we'd got back on board. I sighed.

'Does everyone on this ship know our business?' I asked. Kei didn't look up from strapping up my ribs again. 'Never mind,' I sighed. 'How are our guests?'

'Should recover – some injuries from the cold but nothing we can't sort,' Carlos called over brightly. 'Both out cold though.' I nodded an acknowledgement, then made to swing my legs off the gurney and stand up, only to be held back by Kei.

'Just where do you think you're going?'

'Bed.'

'You can do that right here,' she snapped. 'You're in no state to go wandering around.'

'Whilst I love the concern, I'm bloody exhausted, I want a comfortable bed and if I remember rightly the key to Harlock's liquor cabinet is in the desk drawer…'

'Need any help putting him to bed, Kei?' Ali asked with a grin. Bastard was enjoying this far too much, but since we'd made it back had been noticeably a little less frosty towards me. You win a few…

'Oh just fuck off, Ali,' she snapped back, finally pushed to losing a grip on her temper. Even in my rough state though, I could tell she was more frazzled than angry. But the whistled hoot of mock shock from Ali might have tipped the scales if I hadn't gripped her arm and fell in a not wholly feigned slump against her.

'Seriously Kei – do you kiss our captain with that mouth?' Ali called over. Carlos was trying hard not to grin as he left the room ahead of Eddie. 'Mind you, didn't think our well-bred new captain knew language like that either…' I honestly couldn't resist the come-back to that: 'Fuck off, Ali!'

His laugh then was genuine. 'Keep an eye on 'im, Kei,' he told her as he left the room. 'Might be a keeper after all!'

Mimay drifted in as he left, not to my side but to look at the two unconscious refugees. 'I can watch over our guests for a while, if you wish.' I nodded. She acknowledged with a graceful inclination of her head. 'I'll call you when they awaken.' A look passed between her and Kei, and I felt my put-upon XO shift to place herself under my shoulder.

'I guess I had better get you to bed after all.' Said with a heartfelt sigh. I probably wasn't thinking too clearly when I responded by saying 'I thought you'd never ask…' whilst trying to land a kiss.

'Oh no you don't. Not with those ribs.' I put up with a running commentary about my lack of common sense or self-preservation on the way back to my quarters, which lasted right up until she'd got my boots off and swung my legs carefully onto the bed. I think I was asleep before she finished covering me up.

* * *

 

_I was stumbling through a hellish landscape in black and red, a cold wind pushing me forwards, whipping my hair around my face. The twisted, tortured landscape under the scorched sky reminded me more of a cavern than open air... massive, contorted pillars held the sky up, looking from a distance like tornadoes, but I'd flown past one, and it had been a solid wall of molten rock, torn from the Earth and pulled away into the sky like liquid toffee. The ground underfoot had heaved and buckled, and there wasn't a single level footfall to be had. In the distance, the crumbled wreckage of skyscrapers littered a valley floor below the crag I currently wandered along in a drunkard's walk._

_Even knowing what was coming next, I still, as always, missed the cliff edge and lost my balance as the rock crumbled underneath me, sending me tumbling down to the valley floor to land in a heap - bruised, battered, and uncaring whether or not I lived or died._

_This time, however, it was the sound of trickling water that caused me to raise my head - the slow trickle of melting ice, and the seeping cold through my leathers that told me I was lying not on the scorched surface of Earth, but on cold, hard snow..._

_...and instead of a field of small, delicate white flowers, the meadow I lay in held a different harvest: I was lying on a sheet of snow-covered ice, and underneath me lay a human body - I scrambled to my feet in shock, and knelt back to brush away the snow, to reveal Nami's face._

_Holding back a scream I brushed away more snow... another body. Another, and another... the scene in front of me widened until all I could see was that meadow of frozen corpses, and I sank onto my haunches, my hands palm down on the ice, tears freezing as they fell down my face._

_The snow crunching in front me was my warning that I wasn't alone, and I raised my head to see two pairs of legs standing in front of me. A little higher, and this was resolved into two familiar faces. Three eyes looking down at me, two mouths both set into frowns of disappointment or disgust... one sabre, one pistol leveled at my face, and two weapons spat in unison, fire against ice, and the world went black..._

* * *

 

... I woke up, gasping for breath and struggling against the sheets, before falling back heavily against a damp pillow in relief. A nightmare... I squirmed, grimacing at the feel of clammy, sweat-drenched bedsheets. Which was the point I realised the pillow next to mine was unoccupied and another kind of panic hit, before it percolated into my brain that the running water I'd heard in my dream was the shower... and the cold damp of the sheet on Kei's side suggested I wasn't the only one with night terrors.

I struggled free of the restraining sheet and limped into the bathroom, blinking against the bright light as I opened the door. I could make out Kei's misty silhouette against the frosted door, and quickly stripped off the strapping around my ribs. I tapped lightly on the door. 'Room for one more in there?' I asked. There was room for a small army in Harlock's shower, but I had been raised to be polite...

'Please.' The silhouette moved away from the door and I slipped in, grateful for the sudden sharp burst of hot water on my skin, which quickly chased away the cold shivers. Kei smiled a little wanly at me, and I took a step forwards and slid first one arm, then the other around her until I was holding her close. I closed my eyes and let the water caress us both as she leaned into the embrace and relaxed.

'You too, huh?' she asked softly. I nodded, the action almost a nuzzle against her cheek as I leaned in closer as though I could absorb her into me.

'Earth again. Only this time with frozen corpses. Oh, and my brother and Harlock shooting me in the face. Can't unsee that part in a hurry.' Nami's corpse and the fact that most of the bodies had been wearing Gaia Fleet uniforms I kept to myself. Those burdens were mine to bear.

She turned in my arms until she was facing me, her breasts pressed against my battered chest, her hips a little lower than mine, and she laid her head against my shoulder, offering comfort and accepting it in equal measure. 'I saw those children... so many of them,' she whispered. I tilted her chin up until I could look into her eyes - the cobalt blue misted with tears. I bent my head closer and kissed them away gently, salty on my lips.

'Come on. We can't spend all night under the water. We'll turn into squishy piles of wrinkles that I don't think even dark matter can cure...' I reached for the off switch and shivered as the water seemed to start cooling immediately on my skin. Then the hot air dryer kicked in, and I basked in the dual warmth of my exec and the dryer. Between them they almost chased away the chill that set in when I thought of that landfill of corpses behind us.

Almost.

I wrapped an unusually compliant Kei in a soft robe, and dragged some shorts on for myself. 'Don't know about you but I don't really want to go back to bed just yet.' I hesitated. 'Wait - not because...'

She smiled at me. 'I know. But I don't fancy sweaty bedsheets either... well, not that kind...' She picked up a comm unit. 'I'll send for some coffee and a snack, and get someone to change the bedding.'

I laid a hand on hers before she could make the call. 'I can make my own bed, you know... the men have much better things to do than run around after their captain...'

'Like what?' she snorted. 'Masturbating, making plastic model kits, or getting pissed on the crap Maji and Yattaran distill down in one of the disused fighter bays that they still think Harlock didn't know about?'

'You have a point...' I admitted. 'Even so...'

'You're the captain, Yama - it's not just about rank and privilege, it's about the pecking order...'

My turn to snort. 'Sounds like my old prep school. And I wasn't a huge fan of the system.' I took my hand off the comms. 'Coffee, but no valet service. And if you feel that strongly about me cleaning up after myself, you can sort out the bedding, and I'll pull up the data from the scans we made on that planet...'

I grinned to myself a few minutes later as I stripped the sheets. My adorable little control freak could be so predictable...

* * *

 

The door buzzed, and Kei shouted a "come in" from the desk. I stared out from under a tangle of sheeting to see Ali of all people walking in with a tray, coffee pot steaming enticingly next to a plate of some long-life croissants liberated from the _Oceanos_ ' stores when we'd taken her in tow.

'I was in the canteen when Kei's call came through,' he muttered without prompting. He set the tray down on the desk next to Kei, and I freed myself from the battle with the bedding and sauntered over to it as nonchalently as I could, hoping my predatory pounce on the coffee pot went un-remarked. 'Figured you two couldn't sleep either...' he looked over at the bed and clicked his tongue. 'Oh for fuck's sake - why are you doing that? - you're not her bloody cabin boy...' He nipped back to the door and bellowed something at a poor hapless crewman - one of the new men we'd taken on board from the _Oceanos_ \- who'd been wandering past. Before I could protest, my bed was remade in record time, and both Ali and Kei were staring at me over the rims of their coffee mugs smugly, as though sharing a joke. Which, I supposed, they were...

At least I could take my mind off the fact that my officers could find some common ground when it came to their disapproval of their captain's un-captainly behaviour... 'What did the time radar show?' I asked, through a mouthful of croissant. 'Do we have a point of origin for that cargo ship?'

Ali took up the lead. 'Originated in this sector - a planet called Lar Metal - one of the early colonies, but they've been a bit secretive for centuries - mostly down to an almighty cock-up by the survey team who certified the planet for colonisation - they had a large megalopolis in place before anyone realised the system was a binary - the sun is twinned with a small black hole, and the planet has a highly elliptical orbit as a result. Spends about 800 years out of a thousand in a very harsh winter. There's not much in the ship's files - Harlock didn't plant an oscillator anywhere nearby...'

'Yattaran scanned the planet's surface whilst we were down there. That valley wasn't the only one filled with bodies - there were several deep canyons all filled to bursting point. The camera footage...' Kei broke off, looking distressed, and even the grumpy pain in my ass looked uncomfortable. Yeah. I didn't really want to look at that footage again any time soon. The sight of those human bodies - broken, twisted, left with no dignity at all in their nakedness, thrown away like so much garbage... it was hard enough looking at the adults. But there had been an awful lot of very small children in there.

Too many... human populations were on the brink on most worlds. The percentages were all wrong. No sample should have skewed that high for under tens, and we all three knew it.

'The coveralls our two visitors were wearing looked like prison uniforms... ' I mused, desperate to change the subject. 'But that dial-headed thing referred to them as "rebels"... - political prisoners?'

'Maybe,' Kei said. 'Mimay says they'll be healthy enough to interview in the morning...' she looked over at an ornate monstrosity near the bed that kept ship's time. 'Which would be any time we care to get dressed and meet them, I guess.'

* * *

 

A little later, feeling a bit fresher, fed and refusing any additional painkillers because I needed my wits about me, I lounged in the chair behind Harlock's enormous desk, and regarded our two guests, who sat on the chaise-longue, looking a little bemused. Kei perched on the edge of the desk, and Mimay reclined on the foot of the bed, looking at them with her large, unblinking eyes. Yattaran leant against one wall, looking on with a vague scowl, and he was bookended by Ali opposite.

The woman spoke first. 'I should thank you – but you have no idea of the danger you have placed your lives in, saving us.' Her companion placed a hand on her shoulder, and she gave him a grateful look. Her hand briefly reached up to brush his fingers, and then was replaced in her lap. She sat gracefully, but as warily as a cat. Her companion however was far more tense, but he seemed content to let her do the talking.

'I think we had a taste of that after we got you on board the bullet.' I leaned forward. 'Care to tell us what those robots were that were looking for you?'

She shared a look with her companion again. Something seemed to pass between them, because she stood up, and paced the room.

'My name is Ra Andromeda Selenium. Selen. I'm an exile from a planet called Lar Metal. My friend – ' she paused. 'Rei – and I, escaped after a coup against my sister failed. Those "robots" are not artificial lifeforms, they're mechanised men, part of the security detail sent to either capture us or kill us.' She stopped in front of the window, a few feet away from me, and stared out at the billowing clouds of dark matter, occasionally lit up by electrical discharges. 'My sister…' She bowed her head sadly. 'My sister believes that such mechanisation is the way to save humanity. She began a programme on Lar Metal to convert the population.'

'I'm guessing it didn't stop there though, did it?' Yattaran asked. Selen shook her head.

'No. At first the converts were willing – our planet has an unstable orbit that gives it a centuries long winter. Life has always been hard – except for the elite.' She blushed at that, as if at a painful shame. 'But several years ago things began to change. There were rumours…' She turned to face me. 'Dreadful rumours that the programme had been rolled out to other worlds; that some of the converts were not willing – and that the process was somehow flawed. When I investigated, and began to dig into the truth of the matter, I was arrested. If not for Rei…' She gave her companion a sad smile. 'I wouldn't have survived. We escaped from a hard labour camp with some friends, and tried to get offworld on one of the outgoing ships.' She turned away again and gripped the frame of the window, knuckles white. 'We had no idea what their cargo was, or the sheer extent of their conversions.'

'So the bodies we found…' Kei began. Selen nodded. 'The cast-off remains of the process, unwanted "refuse" to be disposed of.' She laughed harshly, without humour. 'They tell them they can return to their bodies, that they are being kept for them on a special graveyard planet, perfectly preserved, in case they change their minds. Like everything else, it's a lie. Worse than that, there's no way in hell all of those people are being converted – the population statistics just don't support the numbers we've seen.'

That tallied with our own information, at least. The man she'd called Rei spoke then. 'We'd been hoping that we'd be able to jump ship on an inhabited world – maybe find someone who could take us to Mars – If we could get the attention of the Gaia Sanction, tell them what is happening out here, get them to investigate...'

Kei shook her head sadly. She passed me a questioning look. 'I don't think they'd listen,' I told him softly. 'My father was was the High Admiral of the Gaia Fleet - my brother more recently held the same position – I spent a few years as his personal aide, and I can tell you that they've never given a damn about the frontier worlds - their focus is just on securing the Solar System. Patrols out this far are not what you'd call a prestige posting.'

'You missed out the bit where we're not exactly persona grata,' Yattaran said gruffly.

'Were we ever?' Kei shot back. 'Ya- Captain – isn't there anyone who'd listen?' I shook my head.

'I doubt it. I wouldn't have the clearance to get close to the top council anyway, even if I was still part of the military.' I sighed. 'There's also the slight problem that it's less than a month ago that we exposed one conspiracy. Now just imagine the response amongst the people if we come back shouting about another.'

'Eh? Ah. You gotta point there,' Yattaran jerked his head towards our guests. 'Unless there's some kind of proof we could give them?'

'A planet full of bodies wouldn't be enough?' Rei asked darkly.

Kei shook her head sadly. 'Footage of the body dump wouldn't be enough on its own,' She pointed out. She uncrossed her ankles and stood straight. 'Or even eyewitness accounts, given that they'd just consider you to be unreliable witnesses. We'd need more just to get their attention.'

'We're talking about a government that just opened fire on its own fleet in order to cover up the lies they've been basing their powerbase on for a hundred years, ' I told them. 'The last few days they've been spinning a massive arse-covering campaign over the warp feed, and most of it's aimed at us. And whilst I hate to be the one to say it, as far as the government is concerned, anything that reduces the population on the outer planets is going to seem like a bonus.'

Kei sighed sadly, but nodded in agreement when our guests looked at her for confirmation. 'But it's not as though the outer worlds don't have someone in their corner.' She raised her eyes to mine. 'Is it?'

'We're pirates, not heroes,' Yattaran growled out, sounding as though he was trying to convince himself as much as anyone else in the room. I had a feeling I knew which way this was going, but decided to watch it play out. The only question really was who would make the suggestion first.

'I could get someone into one of the processing plants,' Rei said quietly. Selen gave him a sharp look, but said nothing. 'If we could finish what we started back on Lar Metal before they caught us – find out what's really going on with those bodies, and why there are so few mechanised men in comparison…'

'We're not a military outfit,' I told him. 'We're outlaws – pirates, in case you hadn't noticed? I'd have thought the skull and crossbones motif would be a bit of a giveaway. It's not like we can just pick some poor sod out who has undercover training…' I trailed off because my first mate, XO and alien-whatever were all looking at me. 'What? Wait… Oh no… you've got to be joking…!' _Great._ Everyone _was going to suggest it…did I have "gullible idiot" tattooed on my forehead?_

'You've done it before,' Ali said in his most reasonable tone. _Thanks_... he picked _now_ to join my team...? I glared at him.

'Badly,' I responded. 'In case you've all forgotten? I was made before I even set foot on board.'

'Thrown to the wolves without backup,' Kei said softly. 'You never really had a chance...' _Et tu_ …

'Harlock knew you were coming,' Mimay added. She smiled sadly. 'He had… resources.' She didn't elaborate, and I filed that away for later. I had my suspicions, but this wasn't the time.

'You wouldn't be going in alone,' Rei said. 'I'd be there – I still know my way around the security procedures, even if my clearance has been revoked. They tend to concentrate on not letting people out of these places, not keeping them out.'

I gave him a sharp look. 'You're not exactly selling this, for the record…'

'I could go with you,' Kei suggested.

'Absolutely not!' It was out of my mouth before I'd even had time to think about it. Noticing the suddenly mulish set to her mouth I tried to cover my arse. 'You're the best choice to lead this crew if anything happens – if I do this, I'm not stripping the Arcadia of one of her two ranking officers. You and Yattaran would be needed here. Not that I've volunteered for anything yet,' I clarified. I caught a sideways look from Rei towards Selen, with a slight eye-roll when he realised I'd noticed. I didn't dare respond, with Kei still glaring at me. However I seemed to be off the hook for now, since the expected explosion didn't take my head off. 'There's no guarantee they'll listen to us, you know, even if we can show them the evidence. Two people who claim to be escaped prisoners from an independent regime, supported by known pirates? It's a long shot. However…'

'However?' It was Selen who asked, quietly appraising.

'I just stood on a frozen rock and realised I was standing on top of a pile of bodies that might represent the worst atrocity we humans have committed since the Homecoming War.' I stood, and offered my hand to Selen. 'If we do this I want everyone to be clear on why - for myself, I'll do it because someone seems to believe it's acceptable to take away a child's future without giving it a choice.' She took my hand and shook it, firmly. Like Kei, for a woman, she had a firm grip. Then I released her hand and smiled at Kei. 'Because I won't ask someone else to step up to do something if I'm not prepared to do it myself.' Then I turned to look at the pale, lovely alien woman sprawled over the foot of my new bed, and let fall the bombshell I'd been holding onto and chewing over ever since we'd left that nightmarish scene. 'And because I really, really want to know why these mechanical soldiers happen to look an awful lot like Nibelung tech…'

All eyes turned to Mimay, whose own cat-like orbs briefly flickered their third eyelid across, the only outward sign that she was rattled. She said nothing, but a little shudder went through her slight frame before she looked away, unable to look me in the eye.

つつく。。。 (To be continued...)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

In hindsight it was probably a mistake to tell Kei to "show me what it's got" when she was demonstrating the twin-cockpit training fighter I'd pestered her into taking me out in. Leaning against the hangar wall and ignominiously throwing up into the corner I tried to ignore the hoots of laughter – and a few sympathetic slaps on the back – I was getting from the handful of the Arcadia's crew who'd turned up to see how their rookie captain had fared.

'The woman's a bloody maniac!' I gasped in between dry heaves. I wasn't usually prone to flight-sickness, but there are some manoeuvres that only a certified lunatic would pull off in a fighter – in or out of atmosphere. 'Why didn't you warn me?' I glared at Yattaran from under a mop of sweat-soaked hair that was blurring my vision in my good eye. Moving it however meant taking my hands off the wall, and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

My first mate grinned. 'Now where's the fun in that, eh Captain?' He delivered a slap to my shoulder that almost sent me flying. 'You did well – last guy who wanted flying lessons from Kei was crying for his momma inside of ten minutes…' He sniggered.

The culprit was sauntering over towards me, helmet tucked under one arm, swaying gracefully in a sky-blue flight suit that was almost distracting enough to take my mind off my stomach. She was trying valiantly not to laugh, but concern over my wretched state was quite obviously losing the war with amusement.

'Who the hell taught you to fly like that?' I rasped. 'Seriously, that last turn was suicidal…'

'Get him some water, Eddie,' she called to the youngest member of the crew who was hovering nearby, failing the "sympathetic concern for his captain" test by a considerable margin, his long nose twitching as he tried to hold back his giggles. 'And then get a cleaner over here to mop up the mess.' She laid a hand on my arm, rather more considerately than any of my other comrades in arms had. 'I'm sorry… it's just you were so adamant you could take anything I could throw at you, I couldn't resist…'

'Revenge,' I gasped, finally able to straighten up. 'Will be mine later in the gym…' I promised her as grimly as I could.

'And if you'd stop deliberately losing every time I get you pinned to the deck, I might be slightly scared,' she shot back with a wide grin. I grinned back, though I suspected the effect was more sickly than dazzling. Eddie arrived back with a water bottle, from which I guzzled gratefully.

'When you said you needed to beat me into shape, I didn't think you meant literally,' I told her. 'And you didn't answer my question – who did teach you to fly like that?'

'The Captain,' she replied, a little wistfully. 'If you think I'm crazy, you should have seen the stunts he'd pull. He always told me I was too cautious.'

'Easy to take risks when you're practically immortal,' I told her. 'In all seriousness though, you need to teach me that one – I don't recall ever seeing that in training at the Academy.'

'It wouldn't be,' Yattaran replied for her. 'Captain and his friend apparently designed these planes – Captain was quite the ace before the war, or so I heard. Kei's the only one of the crew who can handle them at those speeds now – lost a few over the years.'

'He didn't want to let me fly at first.' She gave me a careful study. 'Can you walk?' I managed to lever myself away from the wall.

'I think I'll live,' I said dryly.

She laughed. 'Let's get you cleaned up.' As we left the hangar she resumed: 'I badgered him until he pulled the same stunt on me that I just pulled on you – I wasn't in a much better state when I staggered out of the cockpit myself, so when he started some bullshit about women being too delicate to fly, I told him where he could stick it.' At the image of a teenaged Kei standing up to a guy over six and a half feet tall and a gaze that was allegedly capable of making hardened criminals piss themselves in fear, I had to smile.

'I can only dream that you used that nut-cracking knee-jerk on him for that as well…' Our last practice bout had left me curled up on the floor around my own pain and in serious doubt about my future ability to father children…

'Not that time, and only once,' she laughed. 'He once told me I wasn't attacking hard enough, and to really put some effort into it. Since I'd been trying desperately to get past his reach for half an hour, I just went for him. I didn't land one though until he pointed out that I needed to remember that I'd sometimes be fighting for something other than my life – then he grabbed my ass...' She paused in front of one of the portholes, looking out into the roiling black clouds that surrounded the ship. We were reflected in the glass – and for one eerie moment my own reflection seemed to be someone else's – collar-length hair, a scarred left cheek, a leather patch covering my right eye. The resemblances weren't that deep – Harlock had been taller, darker, older… his nose had been broken at some point, mine was still as straight as it had always been. But it was enough to give us both pause.

She looked so sad, I would have hugged her, but was too conscious of being a trifle fragrant after losing my breakfast over the hangar floor. But she turned back to face me with that little laughing shrug she used when she wanted to make light of a dark moment. 'It took two guys to pull me off him, and I hadn't known he used language like that, once he could speak.'

Knowing all too well how even a light tap in the balls could floor a guy, I was suddenly rather glad she hadn't unleashed that on me at full strength. 'That wasn't too long after you came aboard, was it, I'm guessing?'

She nodded. 'Took me a while to get used to even a handshake. It was tough, but he did teach me how to defend myself – and how to stop reacting on instinct to being touched.' She linked her arm in mine. 'He wasn't, however, much for hugs.'

She was leading me back down the corridor before I realised. Keeping up her chatter. I didn't mind: I made a point of squirreling away the crew's reminiscences… I had a feeling some of the anecdotes might come in handy someday.

'Yattaran says he should have the captain's fighter re-fitted by tomorrow, so you can try her solo if you want?'

Did I want…? Hell yeah… I'd just about fallen head over heels in love with the plane in question when I'd set eyes on her: the fighters' hangar deck had been off limits when I'd been nosing around the ship during my brief career as spy and assassin… Hell – I hadn't even known it was there: the Arcadia had never fielded fighters in combat that anyone knew, but since taking over as captain, I'd found out that a small cohort of SW-190DS planes had been commissioned for the Deathshadow fleet – a variant designed by Toshiro Oyama, the fleet's designer. Since the Arcadia could outfly any fleet fighter, and shrug off any damage they could dish out, they were pretty much obsolete in battle – and even the Fleet only used fighters for atmosphere or low orbital combat. Despite what warp-feed vids would have you believe, fighters, as Yattaran rather crudely put it, had two uses in space combat: jack and shit. And jack had left town…

They did however make useful long-range reconnaissance craft, and had potential eventually for covert missions such as the one we had planned in the next few days. And they were an adrenaline junkie's wet dream… even on paper they made the Cosmo Tiger I'd trained in look painfully slow and outdated.

But the new apple of my eye – excepting my combat-wing commander in her figure-hugging please-keep-your-eyes-pinned-to-my-ass flightsuits - was the captain's custom-job… a sleek, black painted marvel with a red skull and crossbones painted on her hull on the nose and both sides; not to put too fine a point on it, she was a little beauty.

The fighter, that is. On the other hand… it had been pointed out that I couldn't keep my hands off either, to the amusement of the crew.

The only downside had been that the cockpit of the Space Wolf was fitted out for a man Harlock's build – not my own skinny six foot one. But asking about getting her refitted had the added benefit of discovering the way to my first mate's crusty, cynical heart… just give him a giant model plane to tinker with, and he'd follow me anywhere; tell him he could play with the rest of the mothballed planes, and I might have just made a friend for life…

'Kei to Captain!' she snapped her fingers under my nose. We'd reached our quarters.

'I wasn't day dreaming,' I insisted. A snort told me she didn't buy it for an instant.

'I'll leave you to clean yourself up – I have to check out the shipping route info Yattaran hacked last week – we're running low on a few supplies.' She was off before I could think of anything to say – grabbing some hapless crewmember who happened to have made the mistake of standing still in the corridor for a few seconds – never a good idea; she always seemed to assume loitering when there was no intent. Ah well, since she wasn't carrying a clipboard this time, he'd survive.

'Always on a mission, that one,' said a voice behind me. One of our two guests; his partner - in several senses of the word, I'd guessed - called him Rei, but after a few drinks one night, he'd asked me to call him "Zero", and it stuck. I guess some things remain between friends and lovers – Kei was the only person on the ship who still used my old name, and that I suspected was because she didn't want to hurt my feelings at a critical moment. On the other hand, I got hit with the alternatives "kid" (usually from Ali); "lad" (anyone older than me which meant most of them); "rookie" (mostly Yattaran); the occasional "Captain" (Kei on duty or whoever she was glaring at) and the rare "Harlock" (Mimay). The guy had it easy.

'You have no idea,' I said with feeling. 'If I stand around for more than a minute she's finding things for me to look at. I think I know why the other guy practically locked himself in his cabin with a brandy bottle…' Something about Zero seemed a bit… off and it took a moment to percolate into my flight-fuzzed brain. 'Sunglasses – on a spaceship? Seriously?'

He grinned from under the dark glasses. 'Your first mate was kind enough to sort out my prescription, actually. The tint's just one-way.' He handed them over for examination. I turned them over; sure enough, clear as glass from the business end. I handed them back. 'Short-sight,' he said ruefully. 'But I learned early on that whilst a weakness gets exploited, an affectation usually just gets either mocked or ignored. That, or people think you're a serious hardcase,' he grinned as he put them back on. 'Win-win really. Plus they do look pretty cool.'

I emulated Kei's 'bullshit detector' snort at that point, but couldn't fault his logic. 'If you can stand the ribbing my crew will give you, don't let me stop you.' I opened the door. 'I need to clean up – did you need me?'

He nodded. 'Just a few points to go over – the surly one said we'd be approaching the drop-off point in the next 48 hours.'

'Ali, I'm guessing? And you just want into my drinks cabinet…' He smiled, following me in.

'Busted, I guess. But if I hang around the Boss for much longer, I'll go stir crazy. She's not happy about being left behind.'

'Yours too, huh?' I gestured to the chaise-longue to the side. 'Make yourself comfortable. I'll be a few minutes.' I grabbed a clean flightsuit and paused at the bathroom door. 'Oh and Zero – leave the scotch this time.'

* * *

 

He was browsing the files strewn over my desk when I came back out. I dropped the towel I'd been rubbing my hair with on the floor - it'd give Kei something to grumble about when she got back, and I hated to deprive her. Pants I'd put on before leaving the bathroom, but I had to grab a sweater from a drawer and drag it on over my head. I didn't bother with a patch.

'Nosy bugger.' I made a show of yanking the files out from under his elbow, though in truth there was very little there I was bothered about anyone seeing.

He handed me a snifter. Cheeky bastard had stayed away from the scotch all right – he'd picked a twenty-year old brandy instead. 'Just how many roles does "resistance fighter" cover for you two?' I asked.

'Too many, when there aren't enough of us,' Zero replied. He jerked his head to indicate my paper-film covered desk. 'Most of this looks like soil tests, growth charts and lighting levels… hobby?'

I shook my head, toyed with stacking a few flimsies and put them down again in a marginally tidier pile. 'An old dream. My…' I hesitated briefly. 'Sister-in-law died recently and left me her research - she'd succeeded in getting Earth-born flowers to bloom on Mars – carried on my mother's work. We grew up together and as kids we dreamed of solving the terraforming problem.' And there in a few words lay truth, falsehood and a bucket load of unspoken hurt that still kept on giving. I took a large gulp, welcoming the smooth burn of the brandy. 'I'm not sure there's much chance for a pirate to realise it though.'

Zero took a sip and raised his glass. 'There's always room for dreams. You're still young – don't give up on them yet.'

I raised my own in salute. 'I can hope.'

He placed a hand on one of the flimsies – a photograph of a red, mottled, five petaled flower with a dark well at its centre. The flesh-like petals fell back from this well, looking all too much like maggot-ridden meat. 'What the hell is this though?'

I shrugged. 'It's rafflesia arnoldii – a parasitical plant from Earth's tropics. If you think it looks bad, you should smell it – it apparently smells of rotting flesh – hence its common name – it's called the "corpse flower"'. I took another sip. 'My mother told me it had the biggest flower ever recorded. What the hell this picture was doing in Nami's files though, I've no idea. For some reason she'd encrypted the picture.' I shoved it out of sight under the pile I'd made. The move uncovered a small gilded multi-sided disk which I found my fingertips wandering over gently. I pulled away from it, and shifted my glass over into that hand. Zero watched from behind those opaque glasses, but said nothing. Another reason to like the guy – he didn't push.

We drank in companionable silence for a few minutes, before getting down to business: our main problem was going to be getting close enough in-system without being spotted; but thankfully few governments – even this one – had the resources to either patrol or monitor the multitude of approaches into a solar system. Being a planetary lifeform, we still thought mostly in terms of land-sea-sky, not the reality of being in the centre of an empty sphere where all directions were equally dangerous – even the best naval strategist in space could fail simply because with the best will in the world, you can't guard all angles. What you do is put your resources where the other guy is most likely to be – in the case of a battle, if someone doesn't actually want to engage with you, what are you going to do about it?

In terms of planetary defence, you try for the best coverage you can get – but there are always gaps, and it was those we hoped to exploit. Selen had apparently been a commander in their fleet; Zero a pilot. They knew their way around the planetary blockade. For the approach in-system however we were going to have to trust to luck, Dark Matter, and the help of a ghost and a lovely, if secretive alien.

We'd done most of the bottle by the time I took my leave to sort out my other issue. Though complex wiring probably wasn't a good idea after half a bottle of brandy, thankfully, I had help.

* * *

 

'You need to pick up that green cable. You know - I had to hotwire an impromptu sighting system one time - we had a whole fleet breathing down our necks, at the battle of Pluto. Harlock was captain of the Yukikaze at the time...'

'Seriously,' I said through gritted teeth, 'Do you ever shut up? We've been at this for an hour and you still haven't paused for breath.' It was pointless but I glared up at the tangled forest of cabling I was currently buried under, trying to see the trunk of the central computer core. 'I think I know why Harlock never connected this holographic system.'

The laugh this got was like the voice - mellow, melodious, surprisingly mature and gently teasing. Deeply at odds with pictures of the guy I'd seen. A voice you associated with a man six foot tall and capable of taking on the universe, yet somehow deeply disappointed in it at times. It wasn't a voice that went with a five foot something stocky, bespectacled, self-professed nerd.

'There.' I scrambled out from under the console. 'Try it now.'

A fuzzy green glow formed in front of me - a little below the level of my chin, forming the outline of a man, gradually filling in detail. The image stuttered a few times, then stabilised, until the aforementioned stocky nerd stood in front of me. He grinned, and I found it impossible not to return the gesture. That wide smile carried an infectious humour that was impossible not to like. Behind thick glasses, his eyes had a mischievous twinkle, yet somehow also a wise sorrow.

No. I'd been way off base, but I guess I knew that. Harlock wouldn't have been able to face this. It would have broken him, talking to his dead friend face to face; I understood that all too well, remembering the few times I'd spoken to Nami after they'd wired her into her system. I'd almost welcomed Isora's demands on my time after that. No wonder she'd chosen him in the end; I hadn't even been able to summon up enough courage to stay in the room with her for more than a few minutes at a time.

'Just like him,' Tochiro said softly. 'Always torturing yourselves.' His holographic form perched on the edge of a massive root-like extrusion from the central core. 'Neither of you ever think to just ask the other person what they really think of you.'

'And deny ourselves the luxury of a lifetime of self-flagellation and wallowing in self-pity?'

He laughed. 'At least you can laugh at yourself. I kind of like that. Reminds me of the old days...'

'Oh no you don't,' I stepped in quickly to head off another bout of reminiscences. 'Let's try to stay on topic for once. Are you okay with this?'

His image smiled. 'It takes a bit more power than I estimated, but I can keep it going so long as we don't need to put too much strain on the rest of the system. The one on the bridge will be a bigger drain, but hopefully we won't need it. My system already makes a large demand on the dark matter generator.'

'I just hope Kei won't need you,' I told him. 'Thanks for agreeing to do this.'

A smile and a shrug. 'Harlock and I never really needed it, but it's got merit for dealing with you kids,' he grinned. 'So when are you going to introduce me to her properly?' he asked cheekily. 'She's a real hotty, your girl.' I mimed slapping his intangible hand. 'Paws off and behave.'

'Don't worry, I don't poach. Always had more action than I could deal with picking up the debris Harlock left in his wake. You'd think they'd learn after the first few crashed and burned, but you can't complain when they turn to the nice sympathetic best friend...' It was impossible not to share his engaging chuckle.

'Just behave yourself, or she'll think you're just a dirty old man. Kei-' a sneeze behind me stopped me from finishing the sentence.

'He is a dirty old man,' she said lightly, sauntering in gracefully. 'Disgraceful behaviour for a ship's computer if you ask me.' She let Tochiro's hologram have her most dazzling smile, and damn me if he didn't actually blush. 'It's nice to meet you in person at last,' she said softly. To me she added: 'Is this the surprise you've been working on?'

I nodded. 'Thought it might help if you had a direct line whilst I was off playing hero. Tochiro here showed me how to connect the system. There's an interface on the bridge as well.'

She laughed. 'That'll freak the men out for sure. They already think the ship is haunted.' Tochiro huffed at her.

'It is, by me' he unleashed that cheeky smile on her, then looked her up and down appraisingly. If anything his grin got even bigger when she flushed.

'What did I say about behaving?'

Kei stood her ground. She could at least give as good as she got once got her bearings; she didn't disappoint this time. 'It's fine, Yama. In a way it's rather cute.' She stood in front of the hologram, and leaned forward until she was almost nose to nose with him. Given that she was a tall girl, that meant a good deal of cleavage was on display in the blue suit she was still wearing, which lacked the under tunic of her regular leathers. She placed a finger where it would have rested on his nose if he was tangible. 'See you on the bridge, short stuff.'

It might have been my imagination but I could have sworn I heard an "ulp" from my central computer's image as she sauntered out, tipping me a knowing wink. I grinned, wishing I'd be around to watch the fireworks. If he kept trying to fluster her, she would have him for breakfast.

'Wow, now I know what Harlock meant when he said she was trouble on two legs...' Tochiro whistled admiringly.

'I'm amazed he even noticed, ' I replied. Tochiro's snort spoke volumes.

'Yama my lad, trust me, he noticed. Once told me he'd never been so glad to be wearing that silly cloak on the bridge once she joined up. Staring at that ass all day was tough on his nerves, I can tell you.' He smiled sadly, at some old memory. 'You wouldn't have gone through his personal files yet?' I shook my head. 'Ah. When you do, you might understand one reason why he was desperate to keep her at arm's length. Girl's the living image of his wife.' He fell silent, a look of pain and loss on his face.

'Did she die during the war?'

He shook his head. 'If only. No. That might have been easier to bear. She ran from him - when he tried to go back for her. Screamed her head off and took the kids and bolted. Heard later she re-married; some up and coming young captain. Personally I always thought she was more in love with the hero than the man, but he'd been sighing over Maya since he was twelve, and some things you can't say to a friend and still stay friends - ya know?'

'I've never really had anyone that kind of close, until now,' I told him. Which was true enough: Isora and I had had our problems long before I'd crippled him, and Nami's friendship hadn't been without some qualifications. He smiled at me again. 'Ah, you'll find out, in time. You've got good people around you.' With that he faded from view, leaving only the massive tree-like central core whirling and humming.

With too much to think about, I left. I needed to get at least a few hours sleep before going over more details of our plan with Zero.


	4. Chapter 4

We set the plane down a few miles from the city, thankfully without incident. Selen's intel had been right on the nose, regarding the spread of the defense satellites. Full coverage cost, and most contractors tended to inflate their claims - something I remembered Isora ranting about on more than one occasion. This time, I was on the other side of the fence, thanking my stars for greedy businessmen. Hiding the two-man craft was another matter entirely, but with a bit of work we were able to get it covered by brushwood enough to foil a cursory flyover at least. It was doubtful they were expecting an enemy insertion, but it pays to be careful. If we got into trouble, the girls were a few hours out at best, assuming Kei didn't have to make a strategic withdrawal.

Brushing a few clinging vines off my sleeves and gloves, I took the time to have a good look at our destination. The air was cold, but dry, making my throat feel tight.

Selen had briefed us on the planet she'd been born on. La Metal had a highly elliptic orbit which gave it a long winter, which for the past fifty years had gradually been edging towards a fragile spring which would soon give way to a furious summer. Most native life forms were of a kind that could survive the extremes either by metamorphosis, or by leaving seeds buried deep, to be triggered into new life by the changing seasons. Terraforming hadn't been attempted or needed - the atmosphere was Earth normal, and domed cities had been the go-to solution on such worlds in the early days of colonisation, when hopes ran high. Lar Metal, Mars, Metabloody, Grand Technologia... these planets had been the destination of a technological elite lead by Earth's richest nations and mega-corporations. They commanded resource rich systems that could be exploited to support a luxurious lifestyle for those who could afford it. For everyone else, the marginal worlds had been touted as the new frontier, the hopes of millions of ordinary colonists built up by promises of brave new worlds opened up by the wonders of the terraforming machines. False hope. Broken promises.

In the distance, the spires of the city rose majestically into the green-tinged sky. Unlike Mars with its elegant gothic facades, flying buttresses and sweeping aerial pathways, this had a more rounded profile. Towers were domed, built on the circle rather than the square. They reminded me more of stacked ice cream cones. The overall effect was softer, more feminine. But no less imposing for all that. Like all such projects, it was at heart a statement of power. And despite being ruled by a woman since colonisation several hundred years ago, the onlooker could still draw some inferences about phallic symbols.

Or maybe a big pointy tower several hundred meters tall is just a big pointy tower. I was now in charge of a kilometer long battleship equipped with some of the most powerful cannon known to mankind. Who was I to judge?

Zero gave me a comradely slap on the back which knocked me slightly off balance. 'Ready?'

'Depends. Are we hiking?'

He pointed towards a small farmstead about half a mile to our right. 'Not unless you really want the exercise. We chose this point to land because we have friends out here. The place is abandoned, but we stashed some vehicles in the barn. Hopefully no-one's pilfered them yet.'

No-one had, and we were soon underway in an antique jalopy that had seen better days; I was forced to hold onto the rollbars as we made our way across country to the nearest road. If this wreck had springs, they were utterly shot. I swear the damn thing found every single pothole on our route, either that or it was specifically designed to jar your teeth out of your head.

* * *

Between clinging on for grim death and the constant ear splitting growl of an engine grinding dust into every gear, conversation was all but non existent. I'd never been so thankful to get out of a moving vehicle when we finally stopped at a small dusty diner on the edge of the city. Several parts of my anatomy were never going to forgive me.

The diner was one of those ubiquitous establishments you can find on even the most populous and wealthy planets. There's always a need for low-cost, long haul transport, both inter and intrastellar, and on the ground. A need usually filled by owner-operators who operate independently, never short of work, but never earning enough to be welcome inside the better neighbourhoods. The elite may love their luxury goods, but they don't want to mix with the poor bastards who keep the trade going. There was a mix of small shuttles, space trucks and the terrestrial variety crowding a dusty parking area in front of a low slung bulding that had seen better days. No windows - the view wasn't that great. The delightful odour of sour coffee and aging cooking oil wafted out of double doors that slid open with an ear splitting grinding whirr that set my already tortured teeth on edge. Maybe they should have used some of the rancid fat on the damn doors.

'I'll try to get us a ride into the city,' Zero told me as we strode towards the door. 'There's always someone needing cheap labour, who won't scruple to rip off a couple of down on their luck spacer trash.'

I looked over our scruffy leathers, relics from the Arcadia's stores that had seen better days. It might mean fewer questions about why we wanted the work, but I'd have preferred something less... fragrant. But we never got to test our disguises, as a small bundle of rags darted in between us, almost knocking Zero flying. I grabbed his arm as we watched the culprit scamper off in the direction of some tumbledown warehouses. He nodded his thanks, then patted his chest and swore. 'That little bastard just robbed us blind!' He started off after the vanishing child. I pulled him up with a hand to his collar.

'Wait- is there anything apart from the money?' I wasn't keen on drawing too much attention if we could avoid it.' He nodded. 'The blueprints ... '

It was my turn to swear. 'I guess that means we're going after that urchin then,' and took off in the same direction, Zero hard on my heels.

The kid hadn't got too much of a head start, and I guessed hunger slowed him down. He wasn't making much effort to hide either, probably figuring a couple of grown men couldn't fit through the gap in some junk that blocked a partly demolished corridor, but didn't count on one of them being a former champion free-climber. A thirty foot clamber over rubble wasn't much of challenge, although my already tatty leathers took some damage. Zero took the long way round and scooted up a wall and over the top, so between us we soon had the panting kid cornered. He was a filthy little thing -way too thin, sharp cheekbones, and defiant green eyes that peered out at us from under an oversized floppy brimmed hat that hid most of his face. I estimated he was about ten or eleven, but small for his age.

Zero held his hand out. 'Just the wallet, kid, you can keep the credits.' This was met with sullen silence, then the brat tried to make a run for it. He dodged Zero's outstretched hand, but ran straight into my arms, cued by the tensing in his shoulders. The little thief wriggled and kicked, trying to break free, but in silence apart from heaving breaths. It was like holding onto a wildcat, but I was holding on waiting for backup, when the kid's hat fell off, and a wild mass of red hair fell down.

'A girl!' I almost dropped the little hellcat, but Zero managed to get a better grip, holding her arm up behind her back. She still said nothing, just glared at us both in that same sullen silence. Zero murmured something under his breath that I couldn't quite catch, and turned her around to get a better look at her.I kept one hand gripping her thin shoulder, taking a better look myself.

A little older than I'd thought when I'd mistaken her for a boy; maybe thirteen. And pretty, under the dirt and grime. Her clothes were tattered, but had been good quality once.

'Let go of me,' she snarled at Zero. 'Just who do you think you are?' That wasn't a street accent, the voice was well educated, and she'd mastered the kind of condescending sneer only a privileged teenage girl can manage; it hadn't been so long ago I'd been on the receiving end of a few snotty remarks that I'd forgotten the tone. Zero however seemed to have a different reaction.

'Em?' He spun her round fully, kneeling to get a closer look. 'Emmy?'Her thin body trembled under my hand, and I let her go. She was staring closely at Zero, and he removed the glasses.

'Uncle Rei?' The voice now had a tremor that sounded both hopeful and afraid. She stared at him for what seemed an age, before she relaxed. He made as if to hug her, but she sidestepped his open arms warily. Catching his eye I silently urged him not to press the issue, and he seemed to understand. He dropped his hands back to his sides and just watched her.

'Emmy, what the hell's going on?' He asked her gently.'Why are you here like this? Your mother...'

'Mother isn't mother anymore,' she said quietly. Those feral green eyes stared up at us from under that mop of red hair. 'We had to get away.'

'We? Emmy, who's 'we'? Your father? May?' Zero asked gently. She shook her head.

'Papa's gone. It's just us. May didn't want to run, but mother...' she trailed off, and this time didn't object when Zero placed an arm around her and held her close. She sniffed a bit, her nose running, but didn't dissolve into tears.

'Where's May, Emmy?' He asked gently.

'Have you come for us?' She asked, 'The colonel sent those things after us, so we hid. You don't look as though you've been converted, but some machinners still look like people.'

'Didn't know you were here, kiddo, otherwise your aunt and I would have come straight back. But we're here now. We'll find some way to get you safe, I promise.'

'Are you going to introduce me, Zero?'I asked, kneeling so I was closer to the girl's height. 'I think I'd be safer if she knows I'm a friend.'

The girl almost smiled back at me. Almost. Wide green eyes just regarded me, waiting.

Zero smiled. 'Emmy, this is Captain Harlock. He's a pirate, but I don't think we'll hold that against him, will we? Harlock, this is one of Selen's nieces, La Amalthea Emeraldas. Somewhere around here should be the other half of this devilish equation, unless I'm much mistaken?' I offered my hand and it was taken eventually. She had a firm grip for her age, and a careful resolve that was sad to see in a girl so young.

'Pleased to meet you, Harlock.' I gave what I hoped was a reassuring smile. 'Likewise, lady Emeraldas.'

One small hand lifted and touched my scarred cheek. 'You'd be quite pretty without this. What happened?'

'I trusted someone I shouldn't,' I told her. I took a bit of a flyer based on what I'd overheard. 'Family.'

She nodded sagely, but said nothing. I guessed it'd take a while to get the full story. I suddenly wished Kei were here after all. Something told me she'd have a better chance of getting through to the girl than two grown men would. Zero tried again to get her attention.

'Emmy - where's May?' She took his hand and began to lead him through the tangled garbage that littered the building. I stayed a few feet behind, letting Zero do most of the talking; as foŕ me, I was just trying to figure out how the hell we were going to get two young children out of this mess. They weren't going to fit into the two man fighter we'd arrived in, and my contingency plan was pretty much a last resort I'd desperately hoped I wouldn't have to use.

Further musing was brought to an abrupt halt in front of a pile of packing crates. Emmy crawled in through a gap, gesturing for us to follow. Me being relatively skinny, this wasn't too much of a problem, but Zero's wider shoulders gave him a couple of nasty moments before he wriggled through. We emerged into a small secluded corner of a room that still had part of a roof. A couple of threadbare blankets were neatly folded to one side of the space. The other was occupied by another girl, about the same age as Emmy, this one fair haired and dressed in a ragged white dress. She wasn't quite as dirty as our little hellcat, but sat with thin arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the floor.

Her sister went to her side and sat beside her, placing one arm around her shoulders, but the girl didn't even acknowledge her. There was a peculiar stillness about her that I really wasn't comfortable with, and from the look on his face, Zero felt it as well.

'Don't,' I cautioned him softly. 'I don't think this is the time.' He nodded. 'Is there anyone we can leave them with?' I asked.

'Doc might take them in. We were heading that way. But getting them into the city the way we planned won't 't work.'

Emmy looked at us. 'There's a way in. It's how we got out. Papa showed us, before...' She looked for a moment as though those tears might fall after all, and rubbed her eyes on the grubby sleeve of her free arm. 'You'd both have to duck though.'

* * *

She wasn't joking. After ten minutes of crouching almost double, I started to think I'd never walk upright again. Emmy - Emeraldas - ran on ahead with the resilience of youth I envied, despite reminding myself that I was only eleven years older, and hardly decrepit with most of a year to go before my quarter century. Her sister -twin, Zero told me - had to be caoxed along by her uncle, to the extent that I was seriously beginning to question the wisdom of taking the girls in with us. Whatever had happened - and even the hyperactive red head wouldn't discuss it - must have been pretty bad. Getting them out appeared to have cost their father his life. But short of blowing the whole thing and finding a way to smuggle them off world, getting them to this colleague of Selen and Zero seemed the best option for now.

After seemed like hours we finally emerged into a rubbish strewn aĺley, stuffed between two low rise blocks near to the dome. A pretty low-rent area. Here the environment wasn't as well regulated as the more affluent areas. It was noticeably chilly, damp and by the smell the waste disposal and air purifiers weren't that well maintained either.

Emeraldas didn't seem to know where to go from here, but Zero appeared to have his bearings. 'Doc's place is only a few blocks over from here, if she's avoided the round up,' he said quietly. 'Think you can carry May for me?'

I straightened up and tried to get the kinks out of my abused back. 'If she'll let me.' The sisters stood a few paces away, Emeraldas holding her sister's thin hand. The fairer twin still seemed to be drawn in on herself. I offered my hand, but this was met with total disinterest. 'Care to help out here? I asked the redhead, who gave me a long suffering look and turned to her sister.

'It's all right, Maetel. I know he looks scruffy, but I think he's ok.'

'Damned with faint praise,' I muttered, giving her a mock glare. 'And who are you calling scruffy, hmmm? I could write my name in the grime on your face, madam.' Wonder of wonders, this actually got a smile out of her. A small one, gone in an instant, but still. I had little time to reflect on it, because a small thin hand slipped itself into mine, and I looked down to see two wide blue eyes staring up at me in a far too earnest little face framed by blonde elf-locks. 'Are you going to let me carry you?' I asked. 'It's your call.'

Zero gave me a what-the-hell look but I shook my head at him. The girl didn't say a word, but after a minute, raised her arms, and let me pick her up. Those thin arms wrapped around my neck, trembling - with fatigue, or fear, or a mixture of both. Zero gave me a considering look. 'You seem to have a way with children,' he said quietly.

'Let's just say I learned a few things the hard way.' I told him. 'I guess we should find your friend, if it's safe to go?'

'Patrols don't tend to come out this far, without a reason, but it pays to be careful. I know a few back ways around.' With that, our little group headed into the city.

* * *

'That's the fourth reason in about half an hour,' I hissed at Zero as yet another group of mechanical soldiers marched just a few feet away from the shadows we'd taken refuge in. 'I guess things have changed a bit since you've been gone?'

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose-a little tactic Isora also used when he wanted to think of a pithy reply. Any snarky comeback however was forestalled by him having to make a grab for Emeraldas, who seemed murderously intent on following this last group. In her hand was a small shiv - a sharpened piece of rusty metal with a ragged cloth wrapped around to make a hilt, which was deftly wrested from her by Zero.

'What the hell do you think you're doing with that,' he hissed. That just got him the mulish silence. Having dealt with similar issues with someone who liked to carry more weapons around than was really healthy over the past few weeks, I didn't feel that chewing her out for it was going to be helpful.

'He's got a point,' I told her. This earned me the silent glare. I made sure I had a good grip on her sister, and pulled out one of the small skull hilted knives Kei had issued me with. 'Here. That thing you had wouldn't even get through my leathers, let alone stop one of those things.' She took it from me with a questioning look. 'I know a woman who tells me it helps to know you can defend yourself if you need to. I think she'd agree you need that more than I do.'

'You can't just give a child a knife...' Zero, the concerned uncle.

'Give me the lecture later. For now, we get these two to safety. Besides, I think that one can take care of herself just fine.'

'I _can_ hear you,' Emeraldas said, admiring the blade she'd half pulled from its sheath. Zero winced as she thrust it back in with a satisfied grin. But she followed Zero's lead now without a murmur. I might have just created a monster, I thought briefly. But no, the monsters were elsewhere. Kei had shown me that, and so now did these two girls. And frankly Emeraldas' grim determination worried me a hell of a lot less than the quiet little girl in my arms.

We finally made our way to a slightly more prosperous side street, huddling in a doorway opposite a small single storey building that proudly announced itself as "Do tor Sado - Fr e Cl nic". Presumably the "Doc" Zero had mentioned. 'Wait here,' he ordered quietly. He strolled across the street with a purposeful stride, and entered through the front door. A few minutes later he reappeared, gesturing for us to join him. As nonchalantly as I could, with a grumbling teen in tow, I made my way across the street, hoping another patrol wasn't due to happen by. Luck was with me, because we made it through the cracked glass door without incident, and were led to a small side room just off the hall.

The room was a typical consulting room - charts of various body parts, pamphlets for assorted minor ailments scattered around. A couple of tattered chairs in front of an equally battered desk of uncertain vintage, behind which was a woman in her late thirties; dark haired, only just starting to grey at the temples. Thin - but that seemed to be all too common from what few sights I'd seen of the inhabitants. A large bottle of cheap scotch was on the desk, about half full. A good third of the remainder was currently in the large tumbler on the desk in front of her. I placed Maetel on the ground, though it took a bit of coaxing to get her arms to disentangle from around my neck. She gravitated to her sister, and I was left being given the once over by a slightly bloodshot pair of eyes roughly the same shade of hazel as mine.

'Well, Rei, you didn't tell me he was a hottie!' Her voice was a little slurred, but the assessing gaze was sharp enough.

'Sorry Doc, never occurred to me - he's hardly my type, ' he drawled back. She laughed, a husky, but genuine rasp.

'That pretty, he's anyone's type.' She grinned at me. 'The eyepatch adds a certain rakish charm.'

'I appreciate the compliment, but I'm taken,' I replied. 'You must be the Doctor Sado mentioned on the sign?'

'Just Doc. Daughter, actually. Family business. Well, it was, before they started rounding people up for conversion. Not much call for a doctor when your clients are all machines.' She waved a hand around the room, as if taking in its shabby splendor. 'Business is what you might call a little slow.' She reached for the glass but Zero placed a hand over it.

'About that,' he stated bluntly. He took a seat and began to lay out our plan. When he reached the bit telling our hopes of sneaking into the factory complex, she raised a hand to stop him.

'Are you two completely crazy?' She reached again for the glass and this time he didn't stop her. She swigged it down like a trooper on shore leave. 'You might get into that place, but sure as hell you'd never get out. As for getting in... huh. If you didn't want to be sent through for conversion, you'd need to be either already one of them or accompanied by one. And I hate to break it to you, but that's a bit unlikely, unless one of you is a nano-conversion.'

Emeraldas had made her sister take the second chair, so I had to resort to perching on the edge of a cupboard. 'Nano-conversion? '

'The human looking ones have had a superior 'upgrade'; a nanotechnology body that mimics the old one. Strictly for those who can either afford it, or who have friends in high places. Lesser mortals only rate the cheaper process - the dial-heads you've seen.'

I had the beginnings of a crazy plan suddenly pop into my head. 'How do they recognise a conversion - a human looking one that is? Full scan or do they just check for a carrier signal from the tech?'

'Carrier signal - some people don't go all the way - military types tend to just get replacements for lost parts, unless it's requested. Why?'

I pulled off my patch. 'Can you scan for a signal from some remnant nanotech?'

She gave me a strange look, then shrugged. 'Sure thing, cutie - I take it I'm aiming at that pretty hazel eyeball? Man, someone really did a number on you. Shot from below? Next time you've got the drop on someone, take the damn shot before they pull a gun on you. Of course, that's just a suggestion...'

While she bustled dragging out an antiquated scanner, Emeraldas was peering into my face with undisguised curiosity. 'Huh. I was hoping it was all kind of gross under there, but it's just a bit bloodshot.' One hand waved in front of my right eye. 'Can you see out of it, or is the patch just to make you look cool?'

Zero sounded as though he was choking on something.

I pushed her hand out of my face. 'I get a splitting headache if I leave it off for too long, but yes, blind as a bat that side.' I gave Zero what I could only hope was a stern look. 'And you - that's a nasty cough you've got there - maybe you should get the Doc here to give you something for it?'

Doc waved me over to stick my head near the contraption she'd hauled out from inside a cupboard. 'If I had to guess, I'd say that whatever quack stuck this thing on your eyeball wasn't really bothered about long-term consequences. Sloppy work. You're lucky most of it seems to have shut down when the overflash from that blaster slice across your face took it out. But your guess was right - there's a signal. Probably won't last much longer, but it would explain the headaches - you have a couple of areas still trying to send a signal down the optic nerve, but no way of processing it. Easy enough to shut down...'

'How about giving it a temporary boost to broadcast on the machinners frequency?' I asked.

'That wouldn't be my first suggestion,' she said tartly. 'But I get what you're after doing. Might work, but there's a risk you might have to lose the eye afterwards.'

'I'll take that chance. Not as though I've got much use for it anyway. If you want, I'll even give you the job, if you want out of here?'

I thought she might want to think about the offer, but she nodded brusquely. 'Done, and done. Nothing left here but dust and memories, and I was working on the memories when you two walked in with two missing princesses in tow. Mind explaining that one?'

'Long story,' Zero told her. 'Why not get Em here to explain?'

'You taking the girls with you if you get out?' she asked.

I nodded. 'Even if we don't. Here.' I pulled one of the backup communicators Yattaran had insisted I take out of a pocket. 'Give us two days-if we're not out, use this. It's a one-time use SOS. Coded channel direct to my ship. Ask for Kei or Yattaran, tell them Yama's screwed up again. Explain the situation. Trust me, they'll come..'

'Huh, and I thought your name was Harlock...?'

'Long story,' I sighed. 'Now, about that signal...?'


	5. Chapter 5

The conversion plant covered a vast area at the edge of the city dome, occupying several acres next to the spaceport. From our current vantage point on the thirtieth floor in a nearby derelict high-rise, we could see it laid out beneath us; no imaginative ice cream cone towers here; just a utilitarian white block, stretching out to the edge of the spaceport. The only artistic element was a large tower that rose up from the midpoint of the rectangle - a rotating pillar topped by a Janus inspired sculpture of their queen. One face was mask-like, expressionless. The other was that of a young woman with a strong resemblance to Selen. I wasn't sure which one was giving me goosebumps.

Zero was getting a good look at the place through a pair of powerful binoculars, making notes on the plans he'd brought with him. There seemed even to the naked eye to be a lot of movement around the compound that surrounded the main building. Dial-heads and figures in the uniform of the military - red with a black cross-belt across the chest. Periodically we 'd seen transports full of civilians arrive, to be marshalled through the doors by blank-faced guards.

Even knowing that they weren't being herded to their deaths, as such, the whole setup made me uneasy. That pricking feeling on the back of my neck was back.

'I think I should be able to sneak us through on the next guard change,' Zero said quietly. He pointed to the plan of the building he'd been annotating. 'The changes are fairly regular.'

'As long as you know where we're going,' I replied. I stared at the plans he'd printed out back at Doc's. They'd been marked out indicating several areas. One appeared to hold the elite process - a smaller building off to one side of the main block. We'd agreed that this wouldn't be a priority, as it was unlikely that the massive body dump and sheer bulk of the incoming colonists would be in that category. Certainly we'd seen very few people entering and leaving that building during our watch, but even allowing for that, according to Doc, the nano conversion didn't require the body to be abandoned - it simply replaced the cells exponentially until nothing organic remained.

Zero pointed to a small door marked on the plan. 'This is a service area. Doc was able to get hold of the uniforms, so at least we can stay armed. It might be a little high-profile though, if we're challenged.'

'Well it's not as though we could go in disguised as the caterers.' A poor attempt at a joke, but he gave me a weak smile. 'If you're going to lie, make it a big one. Everyone will be on the lookout for sneaky behaviour - walk in as though you've every right to be there and most people just assume you do, if you can tick the required boxes.' I continued.

He gave me a long hard stare. 'Did you read that somewhere or have you actually tried it?' he drawled.

'That would probably still be classified, if I were still attached to the Gaia Fleet,' I replied. He gave me _the look_ over the top of his dark glasses before pushing them up his nose. 'But remind me when we get back and I might be persuaded to tell you a couple of them…'

 _'When_?' Loosely translated: "if"...

I shrugged. He sighed.

'Ready?' he asked eventually as he rolled up the plans and stuffed them down a hole in the wall.

'No, but I guess that isn't going to stop us.' I tucked a knife into my left boot and slid the dragoon into a generic looking holster that would hopefully pass unremarked - if we made it through security, armed with my aching eyeball and a couple of fake IDs. I refused to leave behind the only weapon we had that could take out a mechanised man.

* * *

Selen and Zero had discussed at length the problems they'd started to see in the brave new mechanised world: I now saw it first hand all around us as we marched in tandem towards the conversion building, through sparsely populated streets. Where once the city would have been full of vehicles clogging up the high and low roadways, or people at street level going about their everyday lives - chattering, random chaotic patterns of humanity - there was instead an uncanny silence. People - mechanised for the most part - walked in an apathetic order going about their daily business. No-one talked, no-one looked around at their surroundings, no-one ducked and weaved in between the thin crowds, jumped a don't walk light, or indeed gave any indication that they cared at all about the world outside their own heads.

This was the "flaw" Selen and Zero talked about. This feeling that there was something vital - something deeply, uniquely _human_ missing from those who walked around clad in mechanical flesh. You could even start to tell the human from the merely humanlike, after a while, for they too lacked something, as though their faces were made of plastic mimicking emotions, but never looking wholly convincing.

We walked through an uncanny valley of automata, and despite my best attempts to remind myself that these were still people, deep down, I couldn't believe it. Even Nami, locked in her life support capsule, had injected more life, more of herself, into her hologram interface than these poor creatures did into their fully operational bodies. The long-dead mind of my ship still retained more of his humanity than they did. Where we did see them interacting, the general impression was one of apathy, as if they were going through the motions out of habit. They were the walking dead. Even those few who were presumably children, forced into sad little dial-head bodies, showed no joy of life. Like the adults around them, they were clockwork parts of the machine of the city. They sat on steps, or on the kerbside of pavements. They walked without joy or even sorrow. They didn't shout, scream, cry…or play: a ball tossed by two small, ragged children who were still human rolled past one group and they didn't even look at it.

This lack of imagination extended to all parts of their lives, it seemed. The security checkpoints we passed along the way were box-ticking exercises for a people who didn't question the systems in front of them. Two obviously human men walking towards them in military uniforms? Check the scanner, and if you got the right signal, the system told them this was fine; we were waved through with a cursory scan. The computers had no discretion, there were no shades of grey. If the signal was detected, no-one would question how strong it was, or how much of my body was presumably giving it off. There was a signal, ergo all was fine.

It almost made me scream in frustration, that we were able to pull this off, when I would have been ecstatic to have someone - anyone - question the machines. Anything that would prove to me that something human survived under metal and plastic. But we passed unchallenged, into the gates of the complex. I almost expected to see the ancient phrase coined by an old Earth poet from pre-space days my mother had loved to read to me and later taught me to appreciate: " _lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate_ ", burned above the metal doors.

These shut behind us with a stomach turning silence. Even the buildings were too mired in apathy to greet us with the obligatory soul-destroying metallic clang of doom.

* * *

The interior of the building was cold. The kind of bone-deep chill that was as much of the soul as the body. No matter how much I tried to tell myself it was all in my head, I couldn't stop myself from shivering.

A quick look to my left showed me that Zero was looking equally uncomfortable, though be-hatted and behind dark glasses he had a considerably more enigmatic look than I suspected I projected. My right eye was throbbing painfully, and my headache starting to approach the spike through temple stage that usually had me begging for Kei's gentle fingers. My patch was back with our leathers, so there would be little relief until we got back out of here. I didn't dare rub my eye either, in case I smudged Doc's careful cover-up of my scars. She'd extended this to cover the slash across my nose and left cheek - most machinners being too vain to carry forward any blemishes into eternity. I settled for pushing the cap of my uniform back from my forehead a little, since the peak was bugging me.

'Left here,' Zero whispered. We ducked into a side corridor, and he made quick work of a security pad on the first door. 'According to the plans there are eight levels below this, but the next level down is only reached via the far end of the holding area. The designer of this place seems to have had a labyrinth in mind when he built it; it's a one way trip, down to level nine.' He tucked his glasses into a pocket.

'And back again, I hope,' I muttered. I surreptitiously double checked the recording device embedded in my collar.

With a nod of acknowledgement, we stepped through into the first level of the facility, and were met with an astonishing sight. This plush, expansive corridor was a far cry from my expectations, with a marble floor and wooden - _genuine_ wood - paneled walls. Various rooms led off from this, and those who passed us in this corridor were well dressed and affluent, both supplicant and the uniformed staff. Not a dial-head to be seen; the machinners here were all human form, their slightly uncanny faces the only real clue to their nature. But you would see the same false smiles on any politician or salesman on any planet you cared to name, so it came as no surprise that these were the type of people we saw strutting arrogantly at the side of some courteous orderly, carrying their pomposity before them. The entitled few.

Once again we faced no challenge as we walked. A few officers saluted us in passing, which we duly returned. No enlisted "men" here, I noticed. Human or humanform. I shivered inwardly, wondering where the rest of the transportees were being held. I didn't believe for one moment that _they_ received the five star treatment.

A moving walkway down, another across, and entry to the next level. We made our way as boldly as we could across a narrow gantry, and across a long gallery that seemed to run the length of the building. It overlooked a single room, several hundred metres long, that was slowly filling up with a drifting mass of colonists, whose muted hubbub filled the air with a sorrowful susurration. Men, women and children, in random groups, some huddled together, others drifting aimlessly, but over all of them, a quiet, as yet unrealised fear. If I had any doubts that most of these people were here unwillingly, they were soon dispelled.

'Ease up a little,' Zero whispered. 'You look as though you're ready to tear someone's head off.'

'Probably because I am,' I shot back. I tried to relax, but as we made our way to the far side of the hall, it was hard, so hard. Every so often a child's cry would reach us, and my hands would tighten into fists that I had to force myself to unclench. Behind the best approximation of a stoic facade I could maintain, I felt as though I was never going to be able to prise my teeth apart again. For all his warnings, Zero himself was looking increasingly furious by the time we had crossed to the far end. Thankfully the only guards we had passed were machines, who'd passed us by without even acknowledging us. A human might have picked up on the body language; a machine saw only what it expected to see.

* * *

Even in the short time we walked the length of the gantry, dial-head guards wandered through the crowd. They'd select individuals at random, or so it seemed at first, directing them towards one of three doors that led out of the room. Always to the right. Each time, they targeted someone who seemed a little less apathetic, or downtrodden. Those who raised their voices in complaint, demanded to be heard. Those who lent a helping hand to anyone struggling, or offered comfort to another. There was still some pride and dignity in those they dragged through that door.

The old, the sick and the very young were shepherded through the left hand door. No one under ten years old or over sixty appeared to be herded through the middle door, the one Zero told me led to the main processing centre. Where the other two led, he didn't know. It didn't add up, given what I'd seen on the ice world, and I said so.

'There were bodies of all ages there, so if they aren't being dealt with in the general population conversion, where are the younger children going?'

'That's one of the things I was hoping we could find out,' he replied softly. 'It was worrying both of us, as the human brain isn't fully formed before the age of about ten. Which kind of begged the question how the hell the transfer process was supposed to work…'

'If I didn't already have a bad feeling about this setup, I have one now...' I fell silent as we passed a pair of officers in red and black; one tall and grey haired, the other - well, I had the impression of a young man, from the way he moved, but his face was completely hidden by a white porcelain mask, featureless except of black eyes and a red slit for a mouth, curved in an obscene parody of a smile. Zero snapped a salute to the grey-haired officer, and I quickly followed suit. He acknowledged with a barely civil nod and the carried on, but as they passed us, I was sure the masked youth turned to stare at us. For some odd reason, it reminded me of the feeling I'd had on the bridge the first time I saw Mimay. I resisted the urge to turn and look, but couldn't shake the cold feeling than trickled down my spine as we walked away from them. Safely past, Zero muttered something decidedly uncomplimentary under his breath.

'You know those two?'

'The colonel, yes. His name's Geran. Utterly loyal, which is a great asset in an attack dog. His nickname was "Shinigami" Geran in the academy. He used to be a popular instructor in his younger days, but since his promotion to internal security, he seems to revel in destroying anyone who criticises the new regime. Up to and including the royal family.'

'Does he know you?'

'I wasn't in his class. We didn't interact much, and he wasn't paying attention, I hope. Selen hated court politics, and we rarely saw her sister in public, so our invitations were usually private. The other one is known as Hagan, turned up a couple of years after Promethium took the throne. Never seen him without the mask. No-one knows what he looks like. I doubt he'd know me by sight.' For all his positive outlook, he looked worried, and almost unconsciously we picked up the pace, both of us breathing a sigh of relief when we reached the relative safety of the gantry exit.

* * *

Most of the inner complex used a system of moving walkways and stairways for travel, and we made a rapid descent to the next level. Guards both human and dial-head ushered dazed and frightened colonists along to take their place in line, awaiting a body shaped capsule to become available, and once locked inside, these proceeded down a conveyor belt to an area where hundreds of standardised mechanical bodies waited. Most were of a familiar design; the basic dial head, sometimes with a single 'eye', sometimes two. Limbs were oddly thin and attenuated, their articulation just the wrong side of human. As I'd suggested to Mimay what seemed now a lifetime ago, they reminded me of the Nibelung tech that the Arcadia made use of, both in terms of the design, which was reminiscent of the Arcadia's hardsuits, but also they reminded me of Mimay. The way they walked and moved, an odd fluidity in the limbs that no human had naturally.

A renegade faction, she'd eventually told us, unwilling to describe an old shame. When her world was dying, they too had turned to thoughts of transferring consciousness into other forms, but the scientists concerned had moved too fast, violated codes of conduct, and people had died in the thousands as a result. Those concerned were supposedly executed, their work destroyed. But there had been rumours…

Well, did that surprise _anyone_? I suspected now that there was a pretty even chance that at least one of those scientists had ended up here. What I couldn't yet figure out was what the hell he or she had to gain from this? Altruism? I didn't buy that for a second.

* * *

The next level down was machine production, a factory for parts and completed bodies for the masses, mass produced. I felt increasingly helpless and angered as we did our best to stroll through unconcerned, to look as though we belonged, that we saw nothing wrong in this. To me, it was wrong-headed at best, but if this was what people chose with their eyes wide open, that was their call. I wouldn't stop them. But nothing excused this, forced upon the desperate either by trickery or coercion.

Another level, more assembly lines, this time of a higher grade of body type, more human like, but still obviously mechanical. There seemed to be a sliding scale of affordability, but whether this was based on ability to pay or the quality of the poor bastards who thought this would solve their problems, we had no idea. No one conveniently held conversations that could be overheard by passing spies, sadly.

All the while, I kept waiting for a hand on my collar, or a voice challenging us; but as Zero had said before we began: this wasn't a place people broke into. What did they have to fear? From what we'd seen precious few people on Lar Metal had the will to resist this anymore, and those who did were too few to make a difference, scattered and disorganised after the arrest and escape of their leaders. Apart from Doc Sado, Zero had been unable to track down any of his old group, though he'd held out hope of finding a young officer who'd served with Promethium during the rebellion; Yamori, he'd called him. He'd been elsewhere when their arrest went down, but Doc had been able to find no trace of him in the system. His records had vanished, and this worried Zero.

* * *

Level seven. Here again were the bodyform conveyors for the humans taken from that upper level. But where bodies of a recognisably human form had awaited their less vocal compatriots, here at first we could not tell what the hell they were doing with the extracted "souls". Whatever process took place here was finalised behind closed doors, in a section of the facility we couldn't access without drawing far too much attention. The only snippets of conversation we overheard referred to "parts", but in what context, we had no idea. And there was still no sign of the children and other possibly unwanted transportees.

'I think we saw a couple of these guys back upstairs,' Zero said quietly as we walked. 'One of those men waiting in line for sure was hauled off by the guards in the holding area. I recognised his tattoos.'

'I just want to bring the Arcadia in-system and blow the hell out of this place,' I muttered grimly.

Frustrated, we made our way down one last moving stairway, to the eighth level.

Like the earlier halls where transportees were held, this had a gantry that surrounded an open room that filled a large area. This one however was circular; spoke like arms extended from a central hub, which I realised was the buried base of the janus-like sculpture of the two faced queen. But the whole room was filled with an eerie blue glow, the ran from the spokes of the hub, to the central pillar, and culminated in what looked rather like a massive glass retort, which gathered this ethereal, fluid light and channeled it towards the far end of the area, where it flowed into delicate glass pipes, eventually re-emerging in the form of fragile capsules of flickering azure fire.

The source of this light was the bodies of the hundreds of transportees who were led one by one to the end of a spoke. This light was pulled from their unresisting bodies to join the incandescent flame at the centre of the hub. We followed the gantry around, and finally saw where the cast-off remains from all these levels ended up. Level nine began here, as bodies on conveyor belts fell in a never ending cascade from the levels above, as well as from the terminus of the process on this level, to be gathered by large machines that shovelled them unceremoniously onto one final conveyor, which headed further downwards, in the direction of the spaceport. I had to hold onto the gantry railing to stop from falling to my knees, and my ever-present headache threatened to turn into a thunderous pounding roar. I felt physically ill, acid scouring my throat, and a cold anger settling deep inside that not even the events of a few weeks back had engendered. Zero clutched the rail next to me, his own face set in a stony expression.

So intent were we on our own boiling emotions that neither of us saw the red uniformed figure behind us until it was too late.

'Ra Reimondo Leopard'. The voice dripped a sneering condescension that even my brother might have envied. 'So good of you to drop in.' I began to turn but a carbine blaster in the hands of a dial-head blocked my movement, the muzzle pressed against my right cheek.

'Aha, whoever you are, I suggest you don't make any sudden moves, boy.'

Colonel Geran, the older of the figures we'd passed earlier. Two troopers disarmed and held Zero, and two more relieved me of the cosmo dragoon and yanked my arms up behind my back.

Disgust at being caught flat footed won out over common sense. 'Just who are you calling boy-' the sharp backhand caught me across the lip, and I stood there in impotent fury, fuming silently as blood trickled from a split on my lower lip.

'I'd also recommend keeping your mouth shut,' Geran told me. His voice was calm and he didn't raise it for a second, but the cold look in his eyes and the flat delivery reminded me far too much of Isora for comfort. The voice of reason I usually paid so little attention to was now screaming at me to keep my stupid mouth shut for once. Even the way he stood, rigidly to attention on his own personal parade ground of one, was horribly familiar. I knew the type all too well.

I'd never taken to the military mindset, and as a rule, it had never liked me either. The result was usually another rerun of the old Yama-pisses-off-authority scenario that had made both my father and Isora despair of me. This time however I'd just had a belly full of what the authorities on this planet held dear, so I told the voice of reason to go screw itself, snarled something that would have made even Yattaran blush, and tried to break free of the mechanical hands that held my arm fast. Trying to slump and let my entire weight pull me free had no effect on mechanical arms, and no matter how I struggled, that implacable grip refused to let go. I had enough sense not to try Kei's suggestion of throwing yourself backwards and headbutting the bastard holding you in the nose. But however hard I struggled, I might as well have fought against a brick wall.

The result was in hindsight pretty predictable. Something hard and heavy smashed into the back of my head, and the world went dark.

* * *

It was still dark when I woke up, groaning at the stabbing pain from the back of my head, and the tight, aching muscles in my arms, which were stretched tightly to either side. I'd been slumped with my weight adding to the strain, and the muscles across the back of my neck and shoulders -and the joints - were agonisingly tight. Mercifully thanks to the darkness, my headache had at least subsided to a spike being pounded into my temple, though right now this was cold comfort. Someone had also taken the time to strip me to the waist, and remove my boots. No chance at all any of my concealed weapons were left behind, even if I could reach them. Beside me, I heard a groan.

'Zero?'

'Harlock?' He sounded worse than I did.

'Tell me it's dark in here,' I whispered, fighting the rising panic. _Notblindpleasenotblind_ …

'They left us in the dark when they tied us up. You went down pretty hard back there...'

'Splitting headache and my arms are being pulled out of their sockets, but otherwise OK. You?'

'Apart from the headache about the same. I'm sorry, Harlock. I should have paid closer attention to Geran. I underestimated the bastard.'

The room was suddenly flooded with light, and I was blinking back tears as the door opened and Geran and his masked companion strode into the room. Geran was carrying my cosmo dragoon, studying it intently.

'An interesting antique, boy. Where did you get it?'

Since I had no intention of answering to "boy" I kept my mouth shut. And promptly had my lip split again by another backhander. Never known for my timing I went with the smart mouthed response before I could engage my brain. 'You know, my girlfriend hits harder than you do.' I said in my best conversational tone. That earned my still tender ribs a vicious punch, setting me swinging painfully as far as the ropes holding my arms would allow, which felt as though something was trying to tear them off. 'Still not impressed, ' I snarled out once I had some breath back. Porcelain Mask started to raise a hand but was stopped by a look from Geran.

'You have some spirit, boy, but I'm not in a mood to play games. I asked you a question, I want an answer.'

'Well that's you shit out of luck then,' I replied. This time he didn't stop the masked attack dog from hitting me, and my nose took the brunt this time, with a nasty little crunch. 'You know, if you have a pet, you really ought to keep it on a leash,' I quipped, blood dripping onto my swollen lip and down my chin onto my chest.

'Harlock..' I didn't mistake Zero's warning tone, but I'd no intention of backing down.

'Harlock...' Geran's tone sounded almost amused. 'A big name for a callow youth to be hiding behind.'

'I'm not hiding,' I told him wearily, realising any attempt to sound defiant would be somewhat ruined by bleeding all over my chest and stomach.

'Really?' He reached a hand out behind him and a humantype machinner placed a flimsy file in it. I recognised the trick, realising the bastard had had the upper hand for a while.

'According to this, you're a little short, not to mention a little young. Your DNA however is on file with the Gaia Fleet, a lieutenant assigned to the office of the grand admiral - your older brother. Agent F111... six foot one, age twenty four, given name Yama, family... oh. All dead it seems. Your parents died around ten years ago, and the aforementioned older brother is missing presumed dead after a recent battle in the Terran solar system, but wanted for questioning regarding the deliberate shutdown of his wife's life support unit, resulting in her death.'

 _Nami.._ Oh, Nami... I'd suspected. Isora never could lie worth a damn, but to hear it like this from a total stranger…

Geran's face held a triumphant sneer. 'Oh, I'm so sorry, did I strike a nerve?'

Yes. Bad move. 'Bite me.'

Another ringing slap, this time to the side of my head. The heel of Porcelain Mask's hand caught the edge of my good eye, blurring my vision. 'Stop playing around and get to the point, Colonel. I haven't got time to hang around with you and your catamite all day.'

'Quite the mouth you have on you, Yama. Must get you into a lot of trouble. For example, using Harlock's name so cavalierly, when the man is known to kill men just for flying a skull and crossbones...' Prying, looking for an angle... but what did he want? Why me, not Zero, a fugitive from his own people? 'Where is Harlock?'

'You're looking at him,' I replied. 'Your file's out of date.' I could lie, yes, but I just couldn't bring myself to deny it, in the end. Something inside just rebelled at the thought of taking the easy way out. That, and I had a pretty good idea the guy was playing with me. What I still couldn't figure out was why. So: brazen it out, hope for the best. Maybe he'd get bored. 'Why don't you just cut to the chase, Colonel? You know where I got the gun. It's mine, left to me by the original Harlock, along with his sabre, his ship and his name. You have my file, you know my code number, so presumably you have access to the mission parameters it relates to. You know about the battle for Earth, and you've presumably extrapolated an outcome. So what is it you want that trumps getting your hands on one of your own rebels?'

Porcelain Mask applauded. 'He has spirit, this one. A pity he's maimed. I could have used him.'

'Sorry, you're just not my type,' I sneered. For once, no hitting. Maybe I'd hurt his feelings…

'You have something we want,' Porcelain Mask said. Beside me I could feel an almost palpable tension radiating from Zero, but as he was on my right, I couldn't twist far enough to see what might have him so worried all of a sudden.

'What could I possibly have…?'

'Your ship, of course,' Geran replied. 'We want the Arcadia.'

I laughed harshly. 'Funny man. Hahaha. What's the word? Oh yes: No.'

This time the masked man didn't bother with his fists. A small stiletto appeared in his hand, and the bastard drove it without warning into my right leg, just at the point where I'd had my leg plated after The Accident. If I'd not been held up so tightly, I'd have been on the floor. Despite my best attempt, a sharp cry escaped me. Porcelain Mask gave a satisfied little snigger, but at least I was able to spit some blood onto the mask's blank face before he backed off. He didn't bother to wipe it off. Geran gave him a feral smile of approval. 'Oh dear boy, we don't expect you to hand it to us. I believe you're far too stubborn for that. But your crew might be a different proposition.'

'You expect them to sell me out?' I thanked my lucky stars it wasn't up to _certain_ members of the crew…

'I doubt that would work, it seems unlikely a new captain would be down here playing hero, unless he were either a complete idiot-'

I really took exception to Geran's pause at that point. '- or he can trust them enough to handle things in his absence without selling him out. In which case, they probably care enough about you to consider a trade.'

'Quite the plan, but that's a bit of a leap. What makes you think they won't simply cut their losses once you give them this ultimatum?'

Geran's smile at this point was chilling. 'Why, you yourself handed me the perfect approach not five minutes ago.' He flicked over a page in the file. 'The Arcadia's crew manifest from their recent arrests lists a single human woman. Age unknown, apparently twenty three or four. Origin unknown. Name given only as "Kei", no family name, no named genetic match found in the system within three generations, but you'll be happy to hear you and she seem to share one female great grandparent. Distinguishing marks include several scars - from projectile weapons, several serious knife injuries including scars to both wrists, six from blast weapons, five from shrapnel and several burn scars to back and shoulders that appear to have been the result of a sustained assault with an electro-whip.'

With that he handed the file back to his flunky. 'I believe you mentioned a girlfriend, and I'm guessing that obese ape of a first mate isn't your type?'

'I'm going to just _love_ watching you call him that to his face...'

He just shrugged. 'Hagan here will explain in more detail a little later. I on the other hand will take custody of Commander Leopard here, and arrange a wide-spectrum call to your delightful executive officer, to persuade her that it will be in your best interests to arrange a trade. You for the Arcadia.'

'You're insane if you think that you can blackmail her into handing over the ship. Kei's a free spirit - she'll never do as you ask!'

'We shall see, Young Harlock.' He gave me a patronising smile. 'Hmmm. I rather like the sound of that...' he raised his hand slightly.

'Pat me on the head and I'll bite that fucking hand off,' I promised. He lowered his hand with a smirk and turned instead to Zero, nodding to an underling to untie him. I was left alone with the masked man, wondering how the hell I was going to get myself out of this one.

It wasn't possible to read any expression on that blank faceplate, but I had the strongest feeling the bastard was smiling underneath it. He gestured imperiously to one of the machinners. 'Cut him down, stop the bleeding. I'll be back later.' He leaned towards me and I wished I had the range and the strength to headbutt him. 'I wouldn't want you dying on us before I have time to play with you a little.'

'For the record, my first mate would be more my type than you...'

He grabbed hold of my hair and jerked my head up painfully, until I was staring into those painted black holes where his eyes would be.

'Get some rest, human. You'll need it.' He turned and walked away, his gait noticeably odd.

Again, as earlier, I was reminded of Mimay. It was an odd image that stayed with me even when the ropes holding me went slack and I crumpled to the floor in a heap.


	6. Chapter 6

They turned the lights out when they finally left me, though thankfully nobody thought to tie me back up straight away. I sat slumped against the far wall in a heap, my bad leg stretched out in front of me, pants leg slowly hardening as my blood dried. I remembered vividly seeing The Captain in a similar position not too long ago, and the parallels were more than a little chilling. I'd never given much thought to ideas about destiny or fate. Truth to tell I doubt anyone would have described me as much of a deep thinker. But in the last few months, when I looked back, I could start to believe in fate. How much of our lives paralleled each other? Thoughtless impetuosity and the best of intentions destroying what we both held dear. Scars, loss of an eye, my now broken nose... Harlock himself had said that perhaps there had to be a Captain Harlock, that this was part of an endless cycle. I found myself wishing that the universe didn't have to take that quite so literally.

Besides, I looked bloody awful in black.

I lost track of time, sleeping fitfully. Occasionally I'd wake up to find a tray of some deeply unappetising food left nearby. I ate, and there were facilities to use in one corner, that I'd seen when the lights had been on. I even crawled over to the pallet on the other side of the cell eventually, to get a little more comfortable. But it stayed dark, and I had no way to judge the time that passed, beyond counting meals. Oh, and cultivating the beginnings of a beard.

I also found myself alone for the first time in weeks. Ever since Earth, there'd been something needing attention, or Kei would find some excuse to drag me into the gym, zero g training or a flight sim. My nights hadn't been dark or lonely either. Though despite what the Arcadia's more prurient gossips would have everyone believe, Kei and I didn't spend every moment of privacy in our now shared quarters engaged in sexual acrobatics. I missed her quiet competence, her warm, athletic curves held close; shared laughter, often at my expense. Shared showers. Soaking in Harlock's decadently extravagant hottub… Long nights spent talking into the early hours of the morning about everything and nothing. Hell, I even missed that damn bird sticking a cold beak where it shouldn't at ungodly hours.

I knew it was getting really bad when I started to miss Ali's constant bitching and belly aching.

It was all too easy to start dwelling on past failures in the dark, with nothing else to do. As though I existed in a perpetual state of four in the morning. Rather than twist myself in knots about the past, I tried instead to think about the future. Plans to take Kei to a proper restaurant on one of the better colony worlds, something she'd never seen. Aim to survive asking her to wear a dress... learn to fly that amazing Space Wolf gathering dust in the fighter bays. Beat Yattaran at shogi. Take up my long abandoned studies, solve the terraforming problem... Figure out a way to take down a machine trooper in hand to hand... More fencing lessons from Selen, who despaired of my footwork... get Yattaran and Maji working on upgrading the armoury to the same specs as Harlock's cosmo dragoon Hell, once they got talking to Tochiro, I'd probably never get the pair of them out of the central computer room.

But thinking about my crew soon got me thinking about the pickle I was currently in. Hagan and Geran had effectively rendered me almost incapable of putting up a fight or escaping on my own though I'd never have left Zero behind. I liked the guy. Didn't ask too many questions, and had a quiet way of just getting on with the job I liked. In the past couple of weeks, in many ways he'd begun to feel like the older brother I'd not had since I was sixteen. The one I'd never lost hope of getting back, now given to the stars along with the Arcadia's crew and the dead from the Oceanos back in the Triceratops cluster.

Oddly, this now made me angry rather than sad, and I found some advice from Kei during one of her pummel the hell out of poor Yama sessions coming to mind: "don't get mad, get even. Use it, channel it. It's more use in your fists than on your face."

Focus. Not on the future but on the here and now. Get out of this place. Rescue Zero. Get Doc and those two girls safely off planet. Find a way to warn the Gaia coalition about this machine threat…

Huh. Slow, Yama. Too slow... how did Geran get hold of your file, which had been classified? No one outside of Isora's office and those poor bastards on that patrol ship had been aware of my mission, except the council. Only the high command or the council would have had the arrest records for the Arcadia's crew... A high council that had just seen its power base severely compromised recently. Whose self interest was practically off the charts.

It was, I reluctantly concluded, entirely possible that I would be too late. Could this queen have already made overtures to the council? I didn't doubt for a second that they'd miss an opportunity to renew their control over the scattered remnants of humanity. Offering a seemingly easy path to immortality, or swap living on worlds that were marginal at best to what some would see as relative comfort? Yeah. They'd jump at it.

I had to get out. I trusted Kei not to leave me stranded, and she wouldn't allow the Arcadia into enemy hands. Which meant hopefully she and Yattaran and possibly Tochiro would try something crazy. Which meant some version of plan B would be in play very soon. If as much time as I thought had gone by, Doc should have been in touch as well, and Selen would want her partner back. Between them I could only hope they came up with something in time. But I just didn't want to be sitting on my arse when they got here. It really would be too embarrassing.

I dozed off for a time, waking sweating from a nightmare in which that image Tochiro had shown me in the computer room had replayed itself. Once again that blue flame covered the galaxy, only this time there were two faces in the fires; one a porcelain mask, the other the machine face of the queen whose image towered over the building I was held in. Something about that flame looked awfully familiar... The great retort we'd seen, with the small capsules of flickering fire, something about that tied in together, but I was still missing a piece of the puzzle... something I'd seen on the Arcadia? No... someone... Harlock, when the dark matter drive kicked in... that strange nimbus that had surrounded him at such times... and also at the last, before…

I was so close to grabbing the memory that so eluded me, when light flooded the room again, blinding me, as the door opened.

Hagan, on his own this time except for a couple of dial heads, who pulled me to my feet and tied me back up, arms pulled out again, and not gentle about it. I feigned being in worse shape than I was, but not as much as I'd have liked.

They had to drag me into place, all the while that blank mask just kept staring at me. Once I was tied up to his satisfaction, Hagan placed a small holographic projector on the floor. A quiet word to one of his flunkies and this flickered into life, displaying Kei, hands on hips and chewing her bottom lip nervously. Her eyes widened when she saw me, but I shook my head behind Hagan's back; no. I saw her almost imperceptible nod, then Hagan spoke.

'As you requested, your captain, alive, if a little the worse for wear. Now perhaps we can discuss the matter at hand?'

'There's nothing to discuss. No trade, but if you let him and Rei go, we might consider letting you live. Your call.'

'Awfully bold, for a lonely, lovestruck little girl playing pirate. What exactly are you threatening me with? A handful of dropouts and petty criminals, backed up by a sad relic from a dead race, in a cursed ship that apparently only answers to its captain?' Hagan moved to one side, taking something off one of the machinners. He walked behind me, so my only warning was the look on Kei's face, of horror and fear. Her frantic 'Captain!' reached me just as the first lash of an electro whip tore into my back. 'You bastard, I'll level your planet if you...'

The second blow landed even before she finished. I nearly bit through my already torn bottom lip trying not to scream, as the tip of the lash curled over my left shoulder. I was thrashing impotently against my bonds, which only caused the whip to land on areas other than my back; I did cry out when one caught the place over a kidney. A grunt when it curled over my stomach; one caught me across the throat, and then I was struggling to breathe. I remembered hearing her yelling 'I will geld you before I tear you to pieces you sick son of a...' before Hagan stepped back in front of me, and addressed the image again. 'Twelve hours, girl, before I start again. And next time, I might send you a souvenir. His currently undamaged eye? A testicle or two perhaps? Your call, but I suggest you bring that ship into a parking orbit, and await further orders.'

I raised my head in time to see Selen, in a black flightsuit, wrestling Kei back from the camera, before Hagan cut the transmission. He coiled the whip back up carefully and handed it back to a machinner. I did my best to stand upright, but the burning pain left by the lashes was crippling. Being tied only made trying to breathe through the pain that much harder and I'd given up on any attempt to brazen it out. That impassive mask just stared down at me, as I tried to raise my head to meet that blank gaze through the lock of sweat drenched hair that fell over my good eye, but he said nothing. Just turned on his heel and walked out followed by his lackeys. No- one bothered to untie me, and I was left dangling there in the dark like a tangled marionette.

Twelve hours. Just how long was twelve hours? I tried counting, but kept losing track. I felt sick, my head hurt, my arms ached, I was struggling to breathe properly, and the whip burns were like acid where the lash had landed. It was a device designed to hurt and maim, not kill, but somewhere along the line you began to wish it did. It worked by nerve induction, as well as leaving electrical burns on the skin. Depending on the sadistic tendencies of the user, those could be superficial or fairly deep.

My world had narrowed over the space of a few hours to darkness and pain, and if I was running out of luck, then it would all start again very soon.

I either dozed off or passed out briefly, hanging painfully from the ropes, my back and shoulders burning and torn, and I struggled to straighten up, using the ropes to pull myself back up by taking the little bit of slack into my hands. The effort cost me dearly, and it took me a moment to realise that the interminable silence was disturbed by the sound of gunfire. I hardly dared hope for the best, when the door to my cell was blasted open, and the light from the corridor made me blink back tears. I couldn't make out who entered, shouting for Kei, but I did recognise the voice.

'Hell, cap'n, did you forget the safety word?'

'Ali?' My voice was hoarser than usual, my throat dry, as well as painful from the lash across it earlier. He sliced through my bonds and caught me as I fell, lowering me to the ground surprisingly gently.

'Easy there, captain. I got ya.'

'Steady on, Ali, I might start to think you cared,' I managed to croak.

He grinned. 'Awww. I wouldn't go that far. Kei's becoming bloody unbearable because she's worrying about you. And besides, if anyone gets a piece of you, it'll be us, not some jerk in a mask.' But he held onto me to stop me from falling into a heap rather more carefully than I would have expected.

'You're all heart.' I managed a weak grin. 'Thanks.' I could hear more gunfire, getting further away. Kei ran into the cell followed closely by Selen and Zero, the latter sporting his share of bruises on his face. I guessed Geran had wanted more than a word with him. But at least he'd managed to keep a shirt on.

Kei knelt beside me, one gauntleted hand laid gently on my undamaged shoulder. 'Yama?' The best I could manage was a nod, placing my hand on top of hers. She looked as though she hadn't slept in days, and her eyes were red rimmed.

'I'll be fine. We just need to get out of here. The recordings...?' She shook her head. So, after all that I had nothing to show for it.

'Just your clothes and weapons.'

Carlos was carrying them, I noticed. But when he made as though to give them to me I shook my head. I didn't really want my sweater over my torso in its current state. I did ask for my boots back though, and with help from Ali got them back on. I struggled to get to my feet, nearly toppling onto Kei, who at least in armour was able to steady me. 'Mimay said if we can get you back to the Arcadia your injuries should heal faster. Can you walk?'

'If it's that or be carried by Ali...' I managed to quip with more levity that I actually felt. But it was worth it to get a grin out of the surly bugger. Even so, I had to lean on him. I wasn't going to make it without help. 'Selen did Doc...?'

She nodded. 'The girls are safe on board one of the bullets. We just needed to get you two out. We've got the fighters and two transports standing by in the spaceport.'

'The Arcadia?'

'Yattaran, Mimay and Tochiro are taking care of anything that gets in our way. We need to go now, before that Colonel and his masked attack dog realise we've sent them on a wild goose chase,' Kei replied. 'Though I had been hoping for a piece of that sadistic little bastard.' She looked so grim and determined I could almost pity the poor bastard when she got her hands on him. On second thoughts, maybe not; I might just join her in tearing him limb from limb, if only because he'd made her cry.

I placed a hand on her cheek. 'Thank you,' I whispered, hoping she'd be the only one to hear. It wasn't what I'd really wanted to say, but from her brief smile, and barely perceptible nod, she knew what I meant.

'We need to be getting back.' Carlos called out. 'Yattaran says we're about to have company and could you two lovebirds get your tongues out of each other's throats and hurry it up?' Kei snorted at that and even I had to bite back a laugh. It hurt too much.

'Tell him if he's feeling left out and wants me to french him that badly, to lead the damn rescue himself next time.' Carlos was trying too hard not to laugh to pass that on but from the squawking I could hear over the comms, the message got through. Ali was laughing so hard he almost dropped me, and Kei just shook her head at me.

'Idiot.' But she was grinning in spite of herself. Selen just gave me a despairing look and sighed. 'I might need to scrub that image,' she muttered. Zero just rolled his eyes, and put his glasses back on before letting big Bob help him follow Selen out of my cell. Now, I just wanted to go home.

Bodies both human and machine littered our path. Since I could barely put any weight on my injured leg, I was leaning heavily on Ali. I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, as Kei was taking point rather aggressively from the amount of gunfire I could hear. 'I thought only my cosmo dragoon could take down those things?'

'Yattaran and that little guy in the holographic suite got their heads together not long after you and Rei left. Along with Maji, they upgraded a few of the guns after that run in we had on that ice world they figured we might need 'em. Kei got those monsters of hers in first.'

Of course she would... and score one for the tech guys... 'How far are we from the surface?' Even with help I was struggling, but I refused to ask for more assistance, unless I was really slowing my people down. Mulishly stubborn I might be, but I didn't want to lose anyone on my account. Not again.

'Not far this holding area is only a couple of levels down. They didn't bother moving us to Internal Security.' Zero, leaning on Bob big, bald and solid. Selen was bringing up the rear, and reached us as we stopped at an intersection. Selen peered round the corner.

'Looks like the cavalry has arrived,' she called out, as Kei and the scrawny red head Eddie came hurtling back towards us.

'Isn't that good?' I asked.

'Not when it's theirs...' Kei yelled. I managed to peek around her to see about a dozen guards machinners led by a very familiar porcelain mask. Kei spotted him at about the same time I did, and I only just managed to snag her arm and pull her back as she swore fluently and tried to charge back into fray, and a blaster bolt flew past where her head had been.

'I'll be grey by the time I'm thirty if you keep pulling stunts like that,' I yelled near her ear.

'That or you'll give me a bloody heart attack.' I pulled her as close as I could in her armour, though I was shaking all over and not just with fatigue and blood loss. 'He's not worth it, love. Just find us a way out of here.'

'There's no way out for you, Harlock! ' Hagan's voice rang out over the sudden cessation of gunfire. 'Did that little slut really think we'd fall completely for that diversion?'

I let go of Kei's arm. 'I take it back, you can have him, just save me a piece.' That earned me a quick peck on the cheek.

'You say the nicest things.' But she tapped her in ear comm. 'Yattaran, we need that backup we discussed.' A pause. 'Like five minutes ago, so get your arse in gear , we 're going to be coming in hot!'

Selen and Zero were laying down covering fire pinning Hagan's troops down around the corner, periodically sticking their heads round to fire. I had to admit they made a smooth team. On one pause, I tapped Zero on the shoulder. 'Here,' I handed him my pistol. 'This has more stopping power.' He took it with a nod of thanks, and I leaned wearily against the wall.

'Just save that masked bastard for Kei if you can!'

If Hagan's men were pinned down, so were we. Kei placed Eddie and Dan to watch the rear, but it seemed whoever laid this place out, as Zero had said when we discussed it a lifetime ago, really did have a thing for one way labyrinths, because apart from the odd hapless machinner who my people hadn't picked off on the way in or out, we were largely unmolested.

A large explosion rocked the building, and Ali had to steady me as I lost my footing. 'Kei? Tell me that was us!' I shouted. She grinned. 'Right on time with plan B, captain!'

Selen stuck her head round the corner, then pulled back. 'Okay, they're down, time to make a run for it. Kei looks like the fat guy came through!' Kei, Selen and Zero led the way, guns blazing. Selen favouring a sabre rifle. Kei, with her two baroque monstrosities in hand, was sensibly firing alternately. I didn't think her insanely fast speed would get old anytime soon. Zero, I noticed rather more petulantly than I should, was handling Harlock's old cosmo dragoon with aplomb.

Most of the machinners were down, and there was a hole in the roof. Most of the casualties were buried under the rubble. Hagan and a couple of his men were still standing, though the porcelain mask was cracked down the middle. He was also favouring his left arm a little.

Smoke and dust were everywhere, swirling, choking, hiding and concealing at random. I called out a warning as I spotted a group of figures running towards us, but Kei just grinned.

As they approached, I realised it was a group of the Arcadia's newest recruits the handful of survivors from the Oceanos who'd taken exception to being fired upon by their own government. In the lead was former Gaia Fleet commander Levary, muttonchop whiskers leading the way. 'Heard you could use a little help, captain!' He yelled. I grinned. Damn me if the old goat wasn't taking to piracy like he'd done it all his life. He'd been my father's commanding officer, back in the day, before being sidelined to a desk job. Isora had asked for him to be assigned as first officer on the Oceanos, and now I had the pleasure of commanding a man who'd once bounced me on his knee and given piggyback rides on demand. And I was probably never going to hear the last of this one…

Hagan and his last two flunkies were being disarmed, none too gently. I had the feeling the new recruits seemed to feel they had to act tougher than was really necessary. I'd have a word about that later. But not about this crowd. Hagan, as far as I was concerned, had a few twisted arms coming and then some. I asked Ali to get me closer, but had barely taken a step when two additional figures ran towards us through the dusty corridor. One red haired, one fair. In pursuit was a puffing Doc. Before anyone could do or say anything, The fair haired girl Maetel had reached Kei, and with no warning pulled one of her pistols from her hand, and aimed at Hagan. I heard the telltale sound of the blast bolt, and the porcelain mask was on the floor in two pieces next to its wearer, who was curled up on the floor clutching his face.

I winced, my own sliced cheek twitching in sympathy, Ķei wrested her pistol back from the pale girl before she could shoot again. The teenager just looked around, that odd calm back in place that was doubly un nerving given her victim was still screaming on the floor. Seriously, I didn't think I'd carried on like that. The guy was actually whimpering.

Kei holstered her pistol, and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking her in the eye.

'May - we left you two back at the transport what were you...?'

'He killed papa.'

It was the first time I'd heard her speak. She turned to look at her sister. 'He killed papa, Em.' Emeraldas ran over to her sister and hugged her.

Zero knelt awkwardly, and rolled the whimpering Hagan over to get a look at him. 'Yamori?' He pulled the man's hands away from his face, and in the undamaged side I saw a young man, not much older than me. Green eyes, sandy hair. And looking absolutely terrified.

'Zero? What... where?'

Something was totally off here. He sounded and looked genuinely confused. I asked Ali quietly to hand me the broken mask, and turned it over in my hands. There was a peculiar tracery of circuitry on the inner surface. What its purpose was I had no idea. But Hagan Yamori was trying to talk to Zero, clutching at his shirt. Kei was already trying to get everyone moving. Whilst tempted to finish the sadistic little prick off, we had to go. Zero tried to help him to his feet, but he pulled away, terrified.

'I can't...' I heard.

'Yamori what happened...?' Zero began. But the guy was backing away from him, hand over his ruined face. 'Zero, they put a monster in my head... ' Stumbling, he ran away, followed by Zero shouting at him to come back. But with more pressing matters, we had to leave, and ushering the girls into a safe group of pirates and former fleet marines, I limped as fast as I could at Ali's side, following Kei's lead out of the building.

The Arcadia loomed several hundred metres above us, lower cannon pointed at the building. In front of us were three space wolves and two transports. Zero, Doc, the girls and myself were hurried into the latter, Kei led Selen and Ali to the fighters, and we had a scrambled take off; just in time, as a wing of fighters swooped in, guns blazing.

Whoever was at the controls of my transport was struggling a little, as we lurched sideways. Struggling to the cockpit, I fell awkwardly into the co-pilot seat, regretting the decision as my injured back hit the seat back, and took the controls from a nervous looking rookie. 'Don't worry, happens all the time,' Humour was probably a little misplaced, as I had to bank to avoid an incoming shot. Wrestling with the ungainly little craft, I caught sight of Kei's fighter on the tail of a hapless plane, that fell tumbling to the ground in pieces as her shot caught it dead on. She was already chasing down the next as I pointed the transport at the Arcadia and hit the burners. Came in a little too hot on the landing, but thankfully the inertial dampeners kicked in to cushion a landing that wasn't one of my best. But at least there was little the fighters could do to the Arcadia.

Which was of course the time that Yattaran's voice bellowed out over the comms calling all hands to primary battle stations.

I found someone willing to be leaned on, and made my unsteady way to the bridge. I figured I could crash later. For a day. Or five. With a silent wish for a lift to replace those stairs, and a barely hidden sigh of relief I dropped into the captain's chair, which had been cleared of cloak and sabre. Both of these now hung from the back of it. The bird was perched on one finial, preening under one wing. I rated a short sharp caw, before he turned his attention back to his feathers. Nice to be missed, but at least he didn't attempt to perch on my bare shoulder.

I tried to avoid leaning back in the seat, and took a look out of the main window. On a course aimed at crossing our T was the biggest battleship I'd ever seen. Not elegant, she was a blocky, functional slab never intended to hit atmosphere; a true deep space killing machine.

Along a central axis, several cross arms branched out at symmetrical intervals, bristling with plasma cannon. Along her longitudinal axis however she was anything but symmetrical, as she undulated if you could use that word about something designed by someone who had seemingly never heard of a curve with mathematical precision. Some sections straight and narrow, others fatter, squat, with sloping lines. In some ways she looked like three or four ships slapped together in line.

'Situation?' I croaked out.

'Sheeeutt,' Yattaran whistled admiringly. 'She must be about three kilometers long! Never seen so many weapon mounts and fighter bays. She's loaded!'

'A little less admiration and a little more action, first mate, ' I snapped. 'Kei?'

'On it,' she called out as she dashed past the captain's chair on her way to her station. I rolled with it rather than admit I hadn't even noticed she had not got to her post yet. 'All hands to the turrets, prepare for incoming fighters.' She looked back towards me. 'Captain you can't take the helm in this state..'

'I know. Yattaran, take the helm, break out and away from their broadside. Mimay...' She appeared at my side, a diaphanous angel in blue. 'We'll need the dark matter engine on line. Be ready.' She nodded and made her way behind me to the massive engine that dominated the room. I couldn't see what she did but I felt the engine come on line, like pressure over my whole body, vibrating with what sometimes felt like the song the universe might sing, had it a voice. It was a seductive lure, that song, that might have been the melody the sirens sang... tugging at the soul... I tuned it out with a greater effort than usual, and tried to concentrate on the coming battle.

Under Yattaran's hands the ship spun away from the battleship in front of us, turning and rotating to end up above and behind our prey. Small splashes of light in the darkness leaving the battleship indicating the launch of its fighter wings. Maybe three dozen in three wedge formations, wheeling round to get a new lock on us. These didn't worry me. Fighters couldn't throw enough firepower at the Arcadia to do more than superficial damage. What worried me were the readings Kei was calling out from her scans of the weapon systems on board the main carrier. Even as she gave the order to the forward batteries, their own top mounts were firing at us.

'Yattaran!' I yelled.

'Got it!' he yelled. He span the wheel and we banked hard. Despite the fact that you barely felt the shift due to the internal gravity compensating, it was still instinctive to hold onto something and lean into the turn. Then we were spinning round on her as the engines kicked in, and someone over there must have practically shat themselves when they realised that our rotating gun mounts meant that we didn't need to broadside an enemy vessel in order to rake it with most of what we had. I tried not to flinch as a couple of their shots grazed our port flank. Most of our shots were on target and a multitude of brief flares from the enemy ship indicated where the hull had been compromised enough to vent the atmosphere. Their armour wasn't much better than a tiered class cruiser, for their size. A common enough compromise in design.

'Captain, do we give them another salvo, or bug out?' Kei asked. I watched the display, looking to see how the captain of that behemoth would respond; would he rabbit, or was he maneuvering for a better position? Given the distances…

'Yattaran, come about, Kei, let him have a full salvo up the arse, target the main engines.' I didn't want to show my heels to this guy. Must be something in the scotch…

The bloodthirsty pair both grinned at me and got to work, and I slumped back into the chair, as we cut loose and let that over sized cock rocket take the Arcadia's cannon in the rear. The starboard engine's energy signature sputtered, and her maneuvering slowed to a crawl.

'Do we finish her?' Kei asked. If I'd had the strength I'd have smiled. She sounded disappointed at the thought of letting it go.

'Captain, we're being targeted from the planet, multiple signals attempting a lock on! ' Ali shouted up from the floor.

'Planetary defenses,' Selen said quietly, having snuck up on my blind side. The bird gave her a beady eye, then cooed at her and nuzzled up to her hair with its beak. Damn flirt, anyone's for a fuss or a herring. 'You could probably take the damage, but repair time...'

'That settles it. We can't open fire on the planet. Yattaran, set course out system, Mimay, we need to enter IN SKIP as soon as we're clear. Get us out of here.'

The comms crackled at that point. Kei took a look at her console. 'Seems that captain wants a word.'

'Put him on speaker, no visual from our end.' I didn't want anyone seeing the state I was in. Geran's face appeared on the front holographic display, looking well pissed. I wasn't sure the guy even knew what a smile was. 'You won't get away with this, Harlock. You made a poor choice of friends when you took sides with these rebels you are harbouring. The queen...'

'Can talk to me herself if she has a problem with me, colonel. That is, if she can find me.' I signaled Kei to cut the signal. 'I should have guessed it'd be that asshole. Yattaran?'

'Ready when you are, Cap'n.'

'Set course for MX 201. We'll take a breather there.' I felt the ship shudder from bow to stern as she entered imaginary number space, and then not for the first time that day, everything went dark.


	7. Chapter 7

I came to in the infirmary, with Doc leaning over me. Someone had cleaned me up, removed several days of stubble, and put something on my wounds; since the pain was considerably less, I guessed they'd dosed me with something to boot. She grinned at me. 'About time you woke up, handsome. Gave everyone a few nasty moments there.' I tried to sit up but she pushed me back. 'Oh no you don't, not just yet. You lost a fair bit of blood from that leg wound, as well as taking a nasty knock to the head and from what I hear and can see, used as a piñata.'

I lay back down without too much protest, since the room had started spinning. That, and the realisation that I'd been stripped to my boxers, hopefully not by someone who acted a little too much like my mother for comfort. I tried not to be too obvious about hitching the sheet up.

'The ship?' I asked.

She busied herself putting away some paraphernalia, her back to me. 'Oh, on our way to some dusty backwater, or so I'm told. Apparently though it does have a bar, at least according to a hunk of muscle with an attitude problem.'

'Try narrowing the suspect list down, Doc,' I told her. 'That description could apply to far too many miscreants on this ship. But if any of them give you any grief...'

She laughed. 'Oh, bless you. I can handle a few randy sailors. Haven't had this much attention in years, and they're really quite sweet.'

Sweet. Huh. Not the word I'd use, but I guess it took all sorts. 'When can I get up?'

'You can go back to your quarters whenever you want, providing you get someone to help you. You really need to stay off that leg for a couple of days - though I'd normally make that a week or more, but your alien lady said you'd heal fast. It seems you do, since you look a hell of a lot better than you did when you were carried in here. Which is weird but around here I'm starting to think weird's normal.' She reached for a bottle of scotch - hah, one of mine I noticed - and poured a generous amount into a tumbler, knocking it back with an ease that would earn her the undying admiration of the men. 'Your back's a mess, but it'll heal. It will leave scars though; that little bastard really did a number on you.'

I let out a little huff. 'My own stupid fault I guess. Got too complacent - not the first time, so I'll have to work on that.' I was distracted from further comment by Carlos and Bob entering, both looking cleaner than I'd ever seen them, and sporting new clothes by the look of them. I sighed inwardly. Having more women on board was obviously going to be a challenge, but I welcomed the change. An all male environment had a tendency to lead to testosterone poisoning and as a slightly built guy who'd put up with an adolescence being teased for being overly pretty and having a girl for a best friend, it wasn't my favourite choice for company. Not that anyone was stupid enough to haze their new captain. They wouldn't dare mess with Kei for one thing...

Listening to their stumbling litany of minor ailments and aches though, it did cheer me a little. The air of perpetual gloom that had once shrouded the ship was lifting, slowly but surely. A sea change in morale I wasn't going to argue with.

I did however co-opt Carlos to help me limp back to my quarters, promising him out of earshot of his rival that it would make him look better to Doc. Shameless, and underhanded, but what's a captain to do?

I was with an audible sigh of relief that I finally crashed onto my own bed at last. Though I had to do it face down, as there was no way in hell I was lying on my back again. Not that it was much easier that way. The bastard had caught me a couple of good slashes on my stomach and chest. I groaned and buried my face in a pillow, not bothering to try and undress, but leaving my booted feet hanging over the edge.

A gentle hand on my shoulder eventually made me look up blearily. Kei sat next to me, a little frown on her face. The smell of lemon tea wafted up from a mug she waved under my nose as I turned carefully to smile at her. 'Is that for me or are you just teasing?' She handed me the mug and grabbed her own from the side table.

'Thought you'd prefer something other than caffeine. Assuming you do your usual trick of running on empty then crashing for two days.' Her tone was teasing, but the worry lines were still there, and she sounded tired. I drank slowly, savouring the delicacy. Kei's personal stash was closely guarded as supplies of luxury items like this were hard come by out this far from a major world.

'I think that was the plan. Were we followed?'

She shook her head. 'Not as far as I can tell. We should reach Heavy Meldar in a couple of days. Not much we can do before then, so you needn't feel guilty about getting some rest.' She finished her tea and began helping me off with my boots and trousers, before swinging my legs over for me. She tsked over the bandage on my leg, and ran her hand gently around the wound. 'I was afraid I'd lost you for a while there,' she said softly. Her cobalt blue eyes stared into mine. She reached out a hand and her fingers gently grazed my torn lip, then softly traced the bruises I must be sporting on my abused face, then over the purple and yellow splotches I was definitely developing on my chest and stomach. I just leaned into her touch, and placed my hand over hers, where it rested on my stomach.

'Seems I'm made of tougher stuff than I thought.' I gave her hand a little tug. You look exhausted. Join me.'

'There's work...'

I kissed her cheek softly. 'Which the others can cover and you know it.' It was a struggle to sit up fully, but I managed it. A little shakily, I reached for the fastener of her flightsuit. 'I could really use the company, you could use a rest, and I promise I won't do anything that will get us shouted at by Doc for ruining her handywork. So how about giving me a hand with this passion killer? Honestly, getting you out of this...'

'Idiot,' she whispered, a tender smile finally playing around that lovely mouth. But she shucked herself out of the suit which I swear could stand up on its own, and crawled in beside me. 'Just behave. Doc threatened bodily harm if I didn't make you rest.'

'Just a shoulder, 'I murmured suiting action to deed.

A few minutes later I felt a light tap on my head. 'That's not my shoulder,' she scolded with a smile in her voice. I snuggled into the substantially softer portion of her anatomy I was resting my head on.

'No, but it is a lot nicer,' I muttered sleepily. I smiled at her heavy sigh, and fell asleep feeling safer and more content than I had in days.

There was a gentle hand running fingers through my hair when I awoke. I had no idea how long I'd been asleep, but I felt better than I had in days, although I still ached all over, my leg was sore and there were lines of fire on my back. Thankfully the headaches were gone.

'Hey, sleepyhead, I thought you were going to sleep through dinner at this rate.' I lay back and considered purring for a moment. This, I'd missed...

'We have to stop meeting like this... the crew will suspect something.' Lying with my head pillowed nicely on a delightful breast, I couldn't see her face, but just couldn't find the energy to move. Besides, her fingers were now working their magic on my temples. 'It's like our first night, remember? Here I am again, all battered and bruised and totally at your mercy...'

'Only with considerably less awkwardness or nervous fumbling on both sides,' she said, kissing my forehead. 'And don't try any of those things you don't ask nice boys to do on a first date. I'm supposed to be making sure you rest.'

'There you go again, always being the sensible one.' I managed to roll over so I could look at her; limited options with one blind eye. 'You know, you could drive, then I could tell Doc you had to sit on me to keep me under control, and there wouldn't be a word of a lie...' I struggled to keep a straight face as she went from slightly embarrassed, to mock outrage, and finally settled on the one I'd come to treasure as 'Yama goofing around again...'

She let out a heavy sigh. 'Honestly, if I didn't know you better I could be excused for thinking you just don't take anything seriously.'

I kissed her, not as deeply as I'd like to have done on account of still having a swollen lip. 'But you know I do. But if I let myself show it, soon I'll be swanning around in black, swirling a cloak like a moody drama queen and moping in that monstrosity of a throne, with a glass of burgundy welded to my hand and face that could curdle yogurt. And then where would we be?'

That earned me a searching look. 'It really does worry you, doesn't it? Becoming like him? Or becoming him...?'

I rubbed the bridge of my abused nose. Thankfully not too noticeably kinked after Doc's tender ministrations. 'Often,' I admitted. 'One of those things that kept running through my head when they had me tied up in the dark. What if Harlock wasn't just being metaphorical when he talked about a curse? What if the Arcadia really does have to have a Harlock at the helm. A real one, not just some angsting twenty-something with an eyepatch, who always needs rescuing. I screwed up, Kei. Ran headlong into trouble again, and put everyone else in danger pulling me out...' I trailed off, because she had her no-nonsense look back.

'Finished feeling sorry for yourself?'

She propped her chin on her hand, and cupped mine with her free hand. 'First, you aren't turning into anyone other than yourself. More importantly you've been running just to keep up since we blew Earth orbit, but you stepped into a huge void and took everything that was thrown at you. The crew were shaky, but between us - you, me, Yattaran, we've turned that around. People smile and laugh and talk to each other on this ship in a way they never used to, and that's down to you. Sure, you and I know you just goof off or crack a joke because you're nervous or stressed, but mostly they see a captain who can keep his cool and laugh when things get tough, but still get the job done. If you'd tried to do things his way, I seriously think we'd have imploded or something.'

She sat up, gave me a tug into a sitting position, and shimmied closer, careful to avoid my abused thigh. 'His response to dreadful things was to want to reboot the universe to get rid of them. Your first instinct is to work with what we have to try and put things right. You just don't quit. And that... ' There was a long pause there, until I was finally persuaded to let her have her tongue back, '...is one of the reasons I fell in love with you, you silly fool.' She placed a chaste kiss on the tip of my horribly abused nose. 'Second, you didn't screw up - you couldn't have predicted running into someone like Hagan who'd recognise Zero. He told me Geran didn't spot him - it was that sadistic prick in the mask.'

'And yet, I still didn't achieve much… That plant processes thousands every day, Kei… we can't even swoop down and blow it to kingdom come - the place is full of innocent civilians…'

'But if destroying it saves millions…?' She was chewing on her bottom lip again waiting for me to reply.

'We'd be right back where we started. I can't take Harlock's solution Kei. I just can't.'

She nodded slowly. 'I get it. I do. We tried to be careful coming in for you, but we still did a lot of damage to that facility. Even knowing those people were doomed anyway doesn't make me feel better about it. But it will be weeks before they're up and running again, which has to be something…?'

It was precious little, and we both knew it, but I tried to give her my best reassuring smile. Even as I held Kei, I wanted to scream: why us? We weren't wise, or old, or particularly skilled at anything. Just a guy with a bum eye and a kick ass battleship and a girl who'd only ever wanted a normal life.

I'd been five days locked in the cold and the dark. It took as long again to heal to the point where I could walk without too much pain, and my injuries had mostly healed.

Waking up sweating in the middle of the night and only relaxing when I realised the lights were on, I was in my own bed, and Kei was curled up next to me seemed to be something that was going to take longer to get over. I'd woken her up several times over the past few weeks with my old nightmares. Now I had a whole new set for early-morning entertainment.

Zero had fared a little better than I had, but only just. Which was why the round-table conference we seriously need to have was put off for over a week. Kei and I had been spending time talking to Tochiro, and ended up a little late to the proceedings, though thankfully Yattaran hadn't eaten everything on the table when we finally showed up in the war room. Doc just took one look at us and sighed melodramatically, shaking her head. Yattaran and Ali just smirked. Mimay sat quietly in a corner, a glass in her hand, a bottle at her side and the bird on the back of her chair.

'I don't get it, what's so funny about them being late?' Emeraldas, cleaned up and showing that she'd be a heart-breaker when she grew up, looking as grumpy as only a teenager can. She looked at Kei, myself, and then the others at the table trying with varying degrees of success to keep straight faces. She pulled a face. 'Oh. That… Gross.' She sat back in her chair with her arms folded, looking mildly disgusted.

I piled two plates, one for me and one for Kei, plonked myself down in the end chair and after risking friction burns from the speed Kei yanked her plate out of my fingers, grabbed a chicken leg. 'Firstly-' and I glared at the two wise monkeys from my crew '- we were in the computer room, you perverts. Secondly, don't judge till you're old enough, madam.' I waved the drumstick in her direction. She just rolled her eyes.

'I thought you were this big-shot pirate captain?' she continued, looking me up and down and obviously finding something wanting. 'She looks more like a pirate captain than you do,' she pointed at Kei who almost choked on her salad. 'She's kind of cool.'

I knew I was going to regret asking, but I seemed to have woken up with a masochistic streak. 'So what do I look like?'

'Kind of scruffy. Like one of your crew. Don't you have anything that doesn't look sort of lived in?'

'Can we keep her?' Ali. Looking at a demotion if he didn't wipe the smirk off.

Blue-grey didn't have the élan of black or red, I knew. By comparison to the dark magenta and black Kei preferred, I did look a bit drab. I'd never been one for bothering about such things. Uniforms and neatness had been Isora's concern, not mine. Anything smart usually ended up covered in dirt when you spent most of your time in a potting shed as a child.

'It's practical.' I settled on, cutting the conversation short by taking a bite out of my drumstick. 'The material disperses blaster fire, and is environment-proof.'

I got the look that told me she didn't buy it for a second, but we did have bigger things to worry about. 'After all our effort to get into that place, we didn't exactly come out with much to show for it,' I said, once I'd finished stuffing my face.

'This camera slipped their search,' Zero said quietly. He handed over the tiny device to Yattaran. I almost asked him cheekily where the hell he'd managed to hide it, but thought better of it. Not with a minor at the table... 'But we need to find someone sympathetic in the council.'

'That might be harder than you think,' I said softly. I outlined the issue of the files Geran had consulted. 'Someone has contacts on Mars, and pretty high up the pecking order at a guess. The council were handed a big blow to their power base not long ago, and I'm convinced they'll see this more as an opportunity, not a threat, if Lar Metal pitches it to them.'

'They already have,' Emeraldas said. She looked around the table, wiser than her years. 'There were men from Mars talking with mother only last month. Papa was arguing with her about it. He really didn't like the fat one with the ponytail.'

I knew the man she meant. I really wished I'd paid more attention to politics back when I'd been running errands for Isora. I could picture some of the council members Isora had talked with, but names were a blank. 'Either they don't know the process leaves people apathetic husks, or they don't care,' I offered.

Emeraldas shook her head. 'Only the ones who don't get the energy capsules.' We all looked blankly at her, except Zero. He pulled one of the blue flickering glasslike capsules out of a breast pocket.

'These?' He asked. She nodded.

'The red ones are power. They're the basics. If you want to stay yourself, then you need the blue ones. Without them, people just fade away inside.'

Zero handed it to Doc. 'They seemed to be extracting something out of the people they hadn't converted.'

'Mostly children under twelve and the old and sick,' I added. 'There was a blue flame, they pulled it out in some kind of machine, into a glass retort.' I looked at Mimay. 'It looked an awful lot like parts of the dark matter engine in places. And that flame... I used to see it sometimes surrounding Harlock, when you activated the engine. I thought it was the dark matter in him, but after chatting to Tochiro...'

She raised her glass and stared through it at me, swirling the wine in the bowl slowly. 'No, but I think you guessed this.' Her strange eyes stared at me, the nictitating membrane flickering over those cat-like orbs. She nodded.

'It makes the life force visible,' I continued. 'Harlock's resonated with the dark matter engine because he'd become part of the Arcadia when the ship was caught in the back blast from your attempt to unleash it.' I let the implications sink in around the table. 'So, if I had to guess, those who get the mass produced bodies can't afford much in the way of maintenance, and if you get into a state where you don't really care anymore, you aren't going to go looking for a boost. All of which leaves more resources for the elite, who can afford nanotech bodies and the boosts needed to keep their vitality. How am I doing so far?'

'The dial-heads work for power capsules,' Emeraldas added. 'Most of the early converts were our own people. The same ones Aunt Selen wanted to rescue from the factories and power plants, when the old queen was using them as slave labour.' She met our eyes with a steely gaze of her own, chin held high and firm. 'Hagan - the first man in that mask - he talked her into it. She wanted so much to save everyone, because there wasn't going to be enough power to get us all through the new winter. Then she wanted to offer it to everyone, because so many planets were dead worlds. He said she should go first, to set an example...'

'That would be when she changed,' Selen said sadly. 'I had no idea she'd undergone the process herself. It would seem some of these bodies are almost flawless.'

'No They aren't. She fooled you.' Emeraldas said flatly. 'She used one of the clone queens to talk to anyone close to her. She sent Papa away at first, but he came back. They argued. I think he wanted to take us away then, but she wouldn't let him. She said he could take me, but not May. But I wouldn't leave May.'

Zero leaned forward. 'You said the "first man in that mask"; When did that change?'

'After you and aunt Selen disappeared. The new one was younger, taller.'

'Yamori.' Zero breathed sadly. 'And he killed Ban?' She nodded sadly.

'It was May he wanted. Papa told us to run, but she fell. I ran back but I couldn't stop him. He'd stabbed Papa. There was blood everywhere, and he wouldn't stop. I hit him on the head as he bent over May, and he screamed. I think I cracked the mask. I grabbed Maetel and we ran.' She glared around the room, dry-eyed, but I recognised the look in those eyes. Guilt. For not being strong enough to save the ones she loved. Fury at her own weakness. Selen gave her hand a quick squeeze, but that was about the most the girl would allow for now. Reaching this one wasn't going to be easy.

I decided to deflect a bit of the attention off the poor kid for now. 'Ali - did you bring that mask?' He nodded and handed it over to me, and I got up and limped over to Mimay. 'This seems to be the key to the nature of "Hagan". I'm guessing it has something to do with suppressing a personality. Because if you can download a person into a machine...' She took it from me, turning it over in her hands slowly, sorrowfully.

'Then you can download one person into another...' Yattaran leaned back in his chair and rubbed his head. 'Ah, now that's monstrous. Anyone could be anyone else. The perfect spy!' He gave Zero and I a suspicious glare though those thick glasses. 'Oi, you two could be...' Kei smacked him on the arm.

'I don't think we need to worry,' she told him. 'I think I'd have spotted a swap by now. An impostor wouldn't be this ridiculous,' she added sweetly. Minx.

'But you can't wipe the originals, can you?' I asked Mimay. 'Hence the mask, to keep them behind bars out of sight, under lock and key.' Nibelung technology. Which explained Hagan's odd gait at least - he was being controlled like a puppet by a creature who wasn't used to the human body.

'The technology was banned,' she said sadly. She placed the mask on the table, and looked away. 'Our scientists came up with this as a way to continue our lives, moving from one body to another - they failed with clone bodies, and began taking people to use as hosts. They thought they had found a way for some of us to live on after our race had stopped being able to reproduce. But for a few to live forever, many must die. Our elders decreed the experiment an abomination.

My own brother was possessed by one of them - Loki - their leader. He hid inside Alberich, and we had no idea. The masks are not always needed. Just if the profile begins to decay, or if the host fights back. If the host is weak willed, it might not be needed.' She actually looked close to crying, and her fireflies had lost their sparkle, only a handful flickering around her in a dejected orbit.

Kei got up and placed an arm around the Nibelung woman's shoulders, and Mimay leaned into the gentle embrace.

'Was Hagan one of Loki's followers?' I asked. Mimay nodded.

'One of the last generation. A friend of Alberich's.'

'So why Lar Metal?' Selen asked. 'Why do they want to help humans live in machine bodies? What could they possibly get out of it? Machine bodies for themselves?'

I picked up the blue capsule from the table and tossed it to her. She gave me a puzzled look. 'For a start they get the life force of millions, all dressed up behind a seemingly altruistic plan to give humans a chance at immortality. That's a lot of power - but I've no idea what they want it for - I don't buy the power-pill story for a moment - that's just a convenient side-effect. They couldn't care less about the converts.'

The whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth and no amount of Harlock's ancient chardonnay was going to wash that away. 'The worst part is that all too many people will walk willingly to the slaughter before the truth gets out. ..'

'That's one hell of a leap,' said Doc. I shook my head.

'Tochiro showed us, weeks ago when we first spotted that cargo ship: A blue flame rolling over the galaxy, destroying everything in its path. Nothing left but the cold and the dark. Except they need more than just these life forces to do it, I'm thinking. Because Geran and Hagan wanted something badly enough to take a chance: They wanted the Arcadia. Or more likely, the dark matter engine. Someone must have thought their birthday had arrived early when I showed up right in the middle of their factory.'

They were all staring at me as if I'd grown a second head. 'Kei and I took the liberty of running most of this past our ghost in the machine before we got here.' I tapped my earpiece. 'We don't have a full holographic suite in here but he can hear you and relay information as needed. However none of us has quite figured out the whole plan, and it is just a theory at the moment. We know what they need, but not why. Though honestly, for the people caught up in this, I guess it doesn't matter much; they get screwed over regardless.'

'So what do we do next?' Yattaran asked. 'We arrive on a dead end planet in a few hours.'

'Rest, regroup, relax, and come up with a plan.' Kei answered for me. 'Zero and Harlock both need more time to heal, and we need to find a safe place for the girls. Somewhere their mother won't find them easily.'

'I don't see why we can't stay here,' Emeraldas gave me a challenging stare over folded arms.

'A battleship is no place for children,' Selen snapped. That just earned her a version of the stare.

'I'm not a child,' she snapped back. 'And I was talking to Harlock.'

'Firstly, that's no way to talk to your aunt. Secondly, she's right. In a battle you'd be vulnerable. Unless you can assure me that my crew won't need to be nurse maiding you, I can't guarantee you'll be safe. Do you really want to throw your lives away after all the effort everyone - including your father - went to to save you?'

One thing about wearing an eyepatch; it gives your remaining eyeball an incredible advantage in staring matches. Kind of concentrated bad-assery. At least, it had worked for the other Harlock. I folded my arms and waited. Eventually she looked away and muttered an apology to Selen.

As conversations around the table splintered and shifted from one point to another in rapid succession, I took a quick glance over to Zero, enigmatically leaning back in his chair, any thoughts carefully hidden behind those dark glasses.

'You didn't mention the other group, I notice, ' Zero said quietly.

'Culling the herd of the ones who show any backbone?' I grabbed a bottle and a tumbler from the table and poured a generous measure. Like Mimay though, I found myself staring through the glass instead. 'Parts, they said. Parts for what?' I took a deep drink, relishing the warm burn of the brandy. 'What kind of machine could possibly need components with a living spark inside them? I don't know about you, but that's a question I'm almost afraid to hear the answer to.' I looked over towards Mimay, enigmatic keeper of so many secrets. One way or another, some of them were going to have to be coughed up eventually.

Levary stuck his head round the door at that point, a discreet little cough to get our attention.

'Sorry, Captain, but you might want to take a look at the warp feed from Mars. Seems the fleet just updated their records...'

The chatter fell away into silence. Yattaran was already connecting the feed to a screen in the table top. It was an update to the regular 'most wanted' list, it seemed.

'...with immediate effect the arrest warrant for Interstellar fugitive S00999 Captain Harlock is updated as follows: Wanted - dead or alive for multiple acts of piracy, terrorism, murder, kidnapping and arson in a naval dockyard. Height: 6'1", hair: light brown. Eyes: hazel. Age: twenty-four. Distinguishing marks include a blaster scar to the left cheek, burn scars under right eye. May or may not make use of an eyepatch to cover same.

Under the direction of the Gaia Sanction, the battleship 'Mephisto' under the command of Captain Hoshino and the 'Prometheus' commanded by Colonel Ichimonji of the Space Panzer Grenadiers have been tasked with hunting down this new, young Harlock.

Any assistance requested by Captain Hoshino or Colonel Ichimonji should be rendered without question by any and all fleet personnel. Harlock and the crew of the Arcadia have been sentenced to execution in absentia, and the termination order has been signed by the High Council. Anyone caught harbouring these men or offering them aid or assistance of any kind will be treated...'

I reached over and cut the feed as my picture was flashed up for all to see, albeit one from not long before I'd shipped out for Heavy Meldar, fresh faced and still sporting a regulation buzz-cut, before morphing into a picture that could only have been taken on Lar Metal judging from the clothes I was wearing. '"Arson in a naval dockyard"? Really? Is that still on the books? Besides, it was one small explosive charge, not a fire...'

That at least got a small laugh from my crew.

'I think they were referring to the docking ring in Mars orbit, that the Dark Matter scrubber took out when we broke free…' Yattaran added dryly.

'Oh. That… Surely the insurance should cover it?'

More sniggers.

'Who did we kidnap?' Ali asked, a puzzled frown lurking between his eyes. Emeraldas raised a hand. 'Oh. I guess it could look that way…'

'I guess that confirms the link between Lar Metal and Mars,' said Zero. 'And moves the agenda up.'

I finished off the rest of my drink in one swallow. 'Or Hoshino finally 'fessed up to who handed him his ass a couple of months ago… But I think you're right - the timing's just too perfect. Still, Hoshino really is jonesing for our arses.' I shared a look with Kei. The Mephisto was the only fleet vessel that had taken little damage in the battle for Earth, and the bastard had hounded us out of the solar system and been on our heels for almost a week before we'd given his ship a bloody nose and left him stranded somewhere near Metabloody, right before this current mess had kicked off. 'If not him, it'd be someone we don't know.'

The worry here was he had been one of Isora's Academy buddies, and he also knew me, and might take a good guess as to where I might hide out. Ichimonji however was from a different part of the service, and therefore the unknown quantity. Yattaran had quietly pulled his record whilst we talked, and handed it to me to read. I tried to maintain a stoic facade, reading down a list of achievements that was long, distinguished and ruthless. Someone seriously wanted my head on a plate to be sending this guy out.

'So do we still risk MX-201?' Kei asked. I nodded.

'We might need to keep the visit shorter than planned, but we're en route. We can take a breather and restock the water supplies there if nothing else. Arcadia might not need to resupply but her crew certainly do.' I reached for the bottle and a generous refill, not that it did much good recently.

Hoshino hadn't known he was not up against the old Harlock last time. I wouldn't have that advantage this time round, if - when - we clashed again. Harlock had made him cautious... me - I suspected not so much. And now I had enemies on two fronts, because I knew damn well Geran would want a piece as well after I'd trashed his ship.

I turned to look at Selen and Zero. 'Associating with us right now might not be in your best interests. If you want out...'

'We're in if you are,' Selen replied. 'Sooner or later our enemies will be the same anyway.' She placed a hand on mine. Zero placed his on hers. Kei added hers. Mimay. Yattaran. Ali. Doc. Emeraldas, who stood her ground when Selen gave her a warning look. I placed my other hand on top, sealing the compact. Whatever Lar Metal and Mars planned to throw at us, at least we were all in this together.


	8. Chapter 8

MX-201. Known to its locals as Heavy Meldar. Probably one of the farthest planets colonised in the diaspora that had spread humanity across the stars. Also the arse-end I'd spent six very long months on waiting for a ghost ship. Now I was returning as captain of that phantom, bringing the Arcadia in to land for the first time on the planet from which I'd first set sail.

'Gently, gently,' Yattaran chided me. 'Don't haul it around.'

Since I thought I was being careful with the wheel, this wasn't helpful. 'Any lighter a touch and I might as well just stand here with my arms folded and let the central computer do the work, ' I replied through gritted teeth. A barely audible cough from the closest speaker suggested I hadn't been far off the mark as to how Harlock had made this look so easy.

'Ignore him, you're doing just fine,' Kei told me from her station on my blind side. 'He does this to all the guys when they take the helm. It's not your fault it's taken us this long to need a landfall for you to get some practice.'

'We could have stayed in orbit,' Yattaran grumped. 'On the ground we're a kilometre long target.'

'And in orbit we're a big target with a big cloud of dark matter around us shouting 'here we are, come and have a go,' Kei retorted. 'We're not exactly inconspicuous.'

I sighed inwardly and concentrated on getting us down in one piece. Actually not that difficult once you got the hang of it. We settled gently on top of the flat plateau known as Mount Gun Frontier, and I let out a sigh of relief as Arcadia settled onto the ground. Barely a bump.

'You know, I get how you might signal left and right with that thing, but how do you make it go up and down? Or loop. Or backwards and forwards?'

Emeraldas, with that persistent enthusiasm only a teenager could muster, as well as a tendency to ask the awkward questions. Someone - most likely Kei - had found a red flightsuit in her size and some boots, and she had decided to hover on the bridge, asking questions and peering over shoulders. I guessed that like Kei, she took refuge in being busy. One reason I didn't have the heart to throw her off the bridge for being underfoot.

'Yattaran, you're the resident expert, why don't you explain it?' I gave him a hearty slap on the back, and turned to face Kei, leaving my first mate flustered and stammering in the face of a dazzling, expectant smile. 'The town only has a limited opportunity for R&R, but let the men go down in shifts, no more than six at a time. I'll take a transport down, meet me in the terraforming plant when you're done.'

She nodded. 'Still planning on doing a little recruiting after? ' she asked. I nodded.

'If those guys have no hard feelings about a dunking in a very cold lake, maybe. Anyone who completed that damn climb is worth asking, at least. If they have the will to get off world, then I'm not going to let a stupid answer to an impromptu trick question get in the way.' I gave Yattaran a hard stare. He broke off from a not totally convincing explanation about the ship's helm and pushed his glasses up his nose.

'Captain said only one, one he got. Though you only made it by the skin of your teeth because Kei had been ogling your arse while you climbed this damn rock.'

'I was monitoring the climbers because the captain asked me to, not ogling anything, thank you very much, ' the accused spluttered, flushing. 'You -'

I leaned over and gave a her a quick kiss. 'Give it up, you are so busted... but why would I mind? Anyway, you know he just does it to wind you up, so just ignore him.'

An exasperated sigh from behind me signalled yet more disapproval from a pint-sized pain.

'Yes, terrible discipline, smooching and flippant joking on the bridge... but this isn't a military ship, it's our home. Deal.' I snapped without looking round; not too unkindly, but the girl was a little high in the instep, as the saying went on Mars, for those to whom appearances mattered more than results.

I limped out, shaking my head. Her Royal Highness could be a real pain in the arse sometimes. I halted when I reached the corridor, pausing at the foot of the stairs so I could overhear the conversation. Yattaran sounded less and less convincing as he trailed off his explanation in the face of an eighty year old cynic in the body of a thirteen year old girl. There was a pregnant pause, then: ' You do realise that's total bullshit?' Some flustered denials from my first mate, amid peals of laughter from Kei, followed by: 'Well if you can't be serious...' She flounced past me without noticing that I was lurking in the shadows. Biting back a grin, I went to find her sister.

The younger of the twins still worried me. Since seeing her father gutted like a fish in front of her, she'd hardly spoken a word, even to her sister, except for that time on Lar Metal after shooting the man who'd stabbed him. She'd put up with being checked over and cleaned up by Doc and Selen, and had at least engaged enough to let Kei pick out some clothes from storage for her, preferring whites and blues (and dresses) to her sister's choice of slacks, flightsuits and bold colours. Traumatic events take everyone differently, but her reserved isolation wasn't healthy. I just wished I knew what to do for the best.

I found her eventually in the central computer room, on the floor next to Mimay, with her head on the alien woman's lap. The bird had his head in the girl's lap, and she was gently stroking his feathered back. I might have been a little worried about the size of that beak and the damage it could do, but the damn thing was a bit of a softy, and there were times I did wonder about how much the daft creature understood.

Maetel looked up when I walked through the gap in the computer banks, and for once, gave me a sad little smile. Mimay's expression was unreadable, as ever.

'Hey there,' I smiled back. Remembering how much I'd hated adults making a fuss after my parents had died, I tried to treat both girls as normally as possible. But the frank backchat I could give the more in your face of the two wasn't really appropriate here. I sat down beside them. 'I'm taking one of the transports out for a bit, thought I'd take in a quick tour of the outside of my ship, since I haven't had a chance to look at it properly yet. Wondered if you'd come along, give me an excuse to stop your sister from inviting herself and complaining about everything?'

Clear blue eyes looked up at me, and I saw the corner of her mouth twitch a little. But she still shook her head.

I sighed theatrically. 'Fine. Throw me to the wolves then...' Another almost-smile. 'But if you change your mind, let me know. I'll be here. If you ever need me or want my help, just ask. I promise, I will be there if you want me to be.'

I was about to try and stand up without putting too much weight on that injured leg, when a small hand reached out and rested lightly on mine. I met her gaze as steadily as I could, and was rewarded with a small nod. I nodded back, feeling as though I'd just entered into some kind of contract, then she turned her attention back to the bird. Time, and patience were pretty much all I had to offer, I guessed.

'Harlock..'

Mimay's low voice, just as I was about to leave. 'Yes?'

She looked as though she was about to say something, but then shook her head. 'No. It doesn't matter.'

I walked away with a heavy sigh. Women, even alien ones, could be a mystery at times.

In the end, I managed to get off the ship without being accosted. Despite wanting to try out my newly refitted fighter, I figured one of the sleek bullet transports was a lot less conspicuous, and I was soon flying free in the cloudless sky, getting a bird's eye view of Arcadia, for once unshrouded by her dark matter cloud.

The ship was certainly impressive; I'd seen archive footage of it from the time before the transformation, when Deathshadow Four had been a wedge-like, sleek battleship, elegant in design. But this... Arcadia as it was now was something out of a nightmare. The entire bow was a skull face, red eyes veiled now as though resting, and a spinal column extended the length of the dorsal spine of the ship. Arcadia was not quite black.. more a kind of greenish black in colour, the outer shell resembling a leathery skin from a distance. Bristling with guns on rotating, sliding mounts that allowed multiple angles of attack. Three banks out of the twelve oscillator cannon turrets - nine barrels of independently targeting whup-ass, as Yattaran would say - were pointing at me from the top deck - the biggest damn things I'd seen. I lost count of the smaller point defense guns. No wonder Arcadia had made short work of the Oceanos... Two massive arms arced gracefully over the spine, and although Tochiro had mentioned they had something to do with the dark matter, I was none the wiser.

The real oddity though was the stern, because the captain's room from the outside was a marvel - a lovingly rendered replica of a galleon's stern right out of an ancient history book. I'd probably never see the real thing; little of old Earth survived, but this archaic remnant made me smile. Whether the will of her designer had added this quirky little touch, or something in the dark matter, it gave the otherwise grim and forbidding ship a touch of something whimsical. Looking out from it, one looked backwards at the past, to where you had been, not towards the future and what might be. I personally preferred the view from the bridge. But from outside, I had a different thought; the stern perhaps had a meaning, a message to her old captain that he'd never noticed. What it meant to me... that was something I needed to think about.

With a last lingering flight over the ship that had become my home in such a relatively short time, I turned the bullet towards the twin towers of the abandoned terraforming machines and a puzzle that might take my mind off larger concerns for a while.

I'd visited the towers a couple of times during my first month on this rock. Hadn't had the tools to crack the locks, so my explorations had been limited to peering through broken windows and rummaging around the outbuildings. Anything not secured had long since vanished, and the exterior walls were smothered by the desiccated remains of a tough vine which clung to the cladding like a vegetative leech, its tendrils reaching deep into the structure.

I'd quickly lost interest. This planet had a way of sucking the life right out of you, even if you arrived with better intentions than I had all those months ago. A month into my stay and apart from odd jobbing to keep up appearances whilst I waited for my ride, I'd sunk into an apathetic mess whose only lifeline was a chipped mug filled with coffee you could have used to repair the roads.

This time at least I was feeling a lot more like myself, and I desperately needed something to get me off the ship for a while, and give me a brief break from deeper cares, however illusory it might be.

So I got to work with a pair of bolt cutters purloined from Yattaran and Maji's workshop, and when the heavy doors of the facility didn't respond to being asked nicely, gave them a hefty kick to encourage them.

As I hopped around cursing and nursing a painfully bruised foot, it did eventually occur to me that checking whether or not the doors opened inwards first might have been a good idea. Typical Yama… act first, repent at leisure… thankfully no-one was around to pass sarcastic comment, and my face aflame, I slid the damn things open.

Like most things on this planet, they needed well oiling, and opened with a rusty squeal that set my teeth on edge so much that I stopped the moment the gap was big enough for me to slip through.

The windows had long been covered in grime and dust, so little light reached the interior. I flicked my torch on and panned it around the room - a reception area with one dusty desk, a toppled chair and piles of dust and ash covering the floor. A single door to the left of the desk led into the interior, and I wandered through it, into one of the control rooms.

The control panels were covered in dust and the remains of some ivy-like creeper - both of which, upon closer inspection, had penetrated deep into the workings of the machinery closest to the walls. Piles of what looked like ash dotted the floor - at least three were almost five feet in length, the rubber flooring underneath them scorched and bubbled. In one corner, an old swivel chair held the skeletonised remains of a once white-coated lab tech, more of the desiccated vines crawling in and out of the orifices of the skull, including the round hole in the centre of his or her forehead.

Odd… but there was nothing after all this time for me to examine that might tell me what had happened - at least, not in this room. With a last sweep of the torch I left, and went hunting for the main computer room.

This at least was better preserved, although little power from the solar panels had reached it in years. The reason being, on examination, a small squirrel-like skeleton huddled in a pile of chewed cables in a cabinet. Armed with some wire strippers and more enthusiasm than skill, I decided to start by reconnecting the power.

It took me an hour, and an ill-advised trip up to the solar panels on the roof which cost me a bruised shin and a couple of nasty cuts to one arm when I slipped, but I did get the generator going eventually, and to my surprise, the computer restarted. Clearing a dusty chair, I pulled it over to a terminal and began looking over the station logs.

The system had been limping along for decades, generating a barely liveable biosphere, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to why it had plateaued at such a poor level. Which was pretty much the same story I remembered my mother talking about. Planet after planet, and no real answers, until eventually funding into the problem had been cut, and in the aftermath of the Homecoming War, the colonies had been left to rot.

Heavy Meldar had been no different. An oxygen-rich atmosphere, despite plant growth being surprisingly low over the surface, but the soil was exhausted. Water was minimal as well - the planet wasn't quite a desert, but it was spectacularly arid. If I'd had to guess from looking at the figures, my first impression was of a planet that had been over-farmed to the point of depletion, not one that had never known life… Those oxygen figures were - well - "off" for want of a better word.

With a frustrated sigh, I put my tablet down. No easy answers, but then, what had I really expected?

'Sounds like you could use a break, ' Kei's voice from behind me. I turned to see her standing in the open doorway, hands on hips. 'Or a helping hand.' She walked over and took the seat beside mine. 'Where do we start?'

Kei was a quick study, and I found myself enjoying going over reams of data with her. She loved a challenge, and the puzzles here soon engrossed her as much as me. So it was getting late by the time I started yawning, and she laughingly called a halt by means of shutting the computer down. Being a little under a mile to town, we left the transports and walked. As we passed the foot of Mount Gun Frontier she looked up at the sheer rock face with a calculating eye. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking.

'No. Absolutely not.' I tried my firmest voice, but she just looked longingly at the climb.

'It doesn't look too hard...' she said wistfully. I winced. And people had accused me of being a hot-headed adrenaline junkie...

'Trust me, in places it's worse than it looks, and while I can testify that you're fitter, limber and more agile than most, free climbing that beast isn't a stroll in a park. Those other guys were also ex-military, even that skinny kid. You haven't had much experience of climbing in gravity. Trust me.'

'So we could grab some ropes and go up together; you're an experienced climber...'

Oh. There was no possible answer I could make here that could get me out of trouble. Refuse and she'd think I was belittling her abilities or being overprotective. Agree, and lose years off my life every time she slipped. Hesitate and back to being an overprotective chauvinist... On the other hand, I'd never had a close friend who understood sometimes that need to climb, and it was tempting. Plus I did owe her for getting me up to speed on the Space Wolf...

'Fine. We'll make the climb, but we'll make some practice climbs somewhere else first, and you will be roped to me, no free-climbing until I'm happy that you can handle it. Deal?' The smile I got for that almost made the grey hairs it would give me worth it, I reflected as we walked into town, her arm linked in mine. The longer I thought about it, the more I found myself looking forward to it. I'd been sharing her passions for so long, that the idea of having someone to share mine with was irresistible. I did however make a mental note to make a complete and detailed schematic of that rock face before letting her near it. I'd hit a couple of sections on that thing that still gave me nightmares.

I was still mentally going over the route I'd taken last time, when we walked into the bar I'd run out of what seemed a lifetime ago. Looking around, there didn't seem to be too many changes. Same faded news cuttings on the walls, the same time-ravaged faces gathered around a table staring into their tumblers. But there were some delightful smells coming from the kitchen behind the bar. My stomach rumbled loudly, protesting that I hadn't fed it in some time, just as a tall, rather amply proportioned woman walked out of the kitchen, a full plate in each hand.

'Hold on, love, I'll be with you in a minute!' She called out to me as she strode by. The plates were deposited in front of Ali and Levary, who barely acknowledged us as we took seats at the bar. I spotted Maji and a couple of the new recruits at another table, already tucking in with far more enthusiasm than the Arcadia's canteen food usually received. Even on the days when Yattaran or Kei weren't in charge. She walked back over, wiping her hands on her apron. 'Now, what can I get you two?'

'Whatever they're having, I guess,' I smiled at her. 'You know, you weren't here a few months ago when I was last here...'

She smiled, 'Oh bless you, no. Zack and I got in a few weeks ago. The refugee ship took all we had and only got us this far, but the barkeep liked my cooking, so here we are. I'm Anita.' She waved vaguely in the direction of the kitchen door, through which I could see a boy of about twelve or thirteen, mouse brown hair, and a face full of freckles. 'That's my son, Zack. Can't say he's happy to be stuck out here, but needs must.' Given the look of stubborn rebellion on the boy's face, I thought she might be underselling that a little. I offered my hand.

'Yama, and this is Kei.' She took both offered hands, and shook them vigorously. For all her bulk, she had a firm grip. My stomach decided to gurgle again.

'Better feed you before your stomach strangles you. You just pick a table, and I'll be over.' With that she bustled off, already calling to her son to get something in a pan.

Kei grinned at me as we sat down at the table over from Ali. 'I have a feeling if that tastes as good as it smells, you might just offer her a job.'

Ali leaned over. 'Captain - whatever you have to do, offer her the damn job. If I never have to put up with Kei's cooking again I'll pay for her myself!'

'Hey!' Kei spluttered indignantly, but the crew present were all laughing. I tried hard to bite back a laugh but failed miserably. They had a point. Even more of one when a steaming plate of meat and vegetables was placed in front of each of us, and I tucked into the first decent meal I'd had in months. The fare on Heavy Meldar might not permit much creativity - a herd of mangy, scrawny cattle roamed the area and produced a gamey, stringy steak which I'd become horribly familiar with during my stay - but I recognised a master hand when I saw and tasted it. For one thing that gamey meat was actually edible… Sure enough, a little extra questioning provided the information that after mustering out from the SDF she'd been a chef on her former planet, until a population devastated by emigration couldn't provide much of a living anymore. Zack's father had apparently taken one of the ships that had passed through, promising to send for them when he found a place to settle. He never had. I exchanged a glance with Kei, both of us suspecting the true nature of those ships. Anita herself had probably been lucky just to have been ripped off by a passing opportunist.

She wasn't slow to pìck up the vibe. Tucking a stray lock of hair back into a severe bun, she sat herself down in front of us, and gave Kei a grilling that would have done Internal Security proud. I wasn't too sure of the wisdom in telling her our suspicions right out of the blue, but Kei gave me her 'shut up' look, so I stayed silent except when required to fill in the odd gap.

I didn't notice we'd gathered an audience until she finished. Anita, dry-eyed, thanked her. The men of the town gathered around the table, looked more fired up than I'd ever seen them. One old timer looked me over.

'Tis true then, lad, these refugee ships taking people away like that?'

I nodded. 'Some might be just opportunistic traders making a fast buck out of desperate people, but from what we saw, any large scale 'evacuation' ship would most likely be from Lar Metal. The worst part is most people would probably jump at a chance of living nearly forever as a machine. I'm not sure I'd blame some of them, but. ..'

'Would you take it, lad?' An old timer sitting at the back of the room, face hidden by an old, wide brimmed hat pulled low over his face. In the dim light I could just make out a scruffy beard.

'No. I don't know if I have the right to speak for anyone else, but for myself, I'd rather live free and human. Even if there were no other moral issues at stake, I can't see it as anything other than another way of hiding behind an illusion, no different from the lies we were fed by the Gaia Sanction. Life may be hard, but it is living that matters. A soulless existence isn't life.'

I hadn't planned on a speech, but there were nods of approval all round, even from my crew. Levary even offered a curt nod, and from the crusty old bastard, that was something. One of the guys who'd climbed Gun Frontier's mountain all those months ago - a big, muscular bruiser with brown hair tied back with a bandanna spoke up.

'A lot of our people boarded one of those ships when they evacuated Velda last year. I had friends and family over there.'

'Me too.' This from the bald guy who'd made the same climb. Fitter than his gut would have you believe, that one. He'd outclimbed me and that still stung. A little. 'Ain't right, forcing folks to do this. Would Harlock take us on if we wanted to stop these guys?'

That, I flat out hadn't expected. 'No glory, no riches to be had if you did,' I said softly. I looked at both of them. I'd removed the patch before walking in, not wanting to be too conspicuous. They had no idea they were talking to anyone but the sullen, miserable loner at the bar nursing a coffee day in day out, who'd somehow gotten the berth they'd wanted. 'Just a hard fight, and no thanks from anyone if you do this, except from your crewmates. Is that really what you want?'

Bandanna looked at baldie. 'It's just plain wrong, taking kids an' all. Heard you and the missie here talkin'. Don't know if there's any good we can do, but it beats sittin' on our asses waitin' for a death ship to show up.' His partner nodded.

'Kei, why don't you take these guys' names and send them back with this rotation?' I said quietly. She nodded. Anita laid a meaty hand on my arm.

'You needing a cook?' She asked. I took a deep breath. Behind her back Ali mimed a heavensent prayer.

'What about Zack?' I asked. She smiled at me. 'Boy's gotta grow up sometime,' she said. 'If you're worried he won't pull his weight, he can help me in the kitchen.' I looked at the boy, standing in earshot but outside the circle of adults. A boy in a man's world, but he held his head high, hovered protectively over his mother, and didn't flinch when I stared him down. Eventually I nodded. I still wasn't too sure that having youngsters aboard was a great idea, but the alternatives were probably worse.

'Hey, don't you need to run this past Captain Harlock?' Bandanna asked, looking confused. 'I mean, you being a rookie 'n' all?'

I leaned back in my chair, and pulled my eyepatch out of my pocket, tying it back on with some relief. Despite Doc's ministrations, that sightless eye still ached if I didn't keep it covered. 'Hate to break it to you, but Arcadia is under new management,' I said. At the blank looks from both men I smiled. 'Long story, and I'm sure the crew will fill you in.' At length and in utterly unflattering detail... 'Kei?'

She nodded. 'Names?' She asked. They both looked a little abashed, probably not too sure what to make of a pretty girl in a place like this. Bandanna seemed to be the spokesman for the pair however;

'Sabu,' he muttered, 'and this here's Yasu.'

She smiled at them, and I could almost see their hearts fluttering. 'Well Sabu, Yasu. Welcome aboard, I guess. If you need to get your stuff, talk to Ali, and make sure you go back to the ship when he does.' She grinned. 'And don't worry - this time you can take the easy way up!'

Maji and Ali laughed at this, and slapped their new crewmates on the back. After a shy moment, the new guys joined in, relaxing a little. And at that, so did I. I figured they'd fit in well enough once they found their feet. Though they kept looking at Kei as though an angel had landed in their midst.

I needed a little air, the atmosphere in the bar of stale smoke and alcohol not being dissipated by the antique fan that creaked overhead. Selen and Zero must have arrived unseen and unannounced, and the latter followed me out making some excuse to his partner. Once outside he surreptitiously started to light up a cigarette, bummed off one of the patrons at a guess. He took a drag and gave me a furtive look over his glasses.

'Supposed to be quitting, but you know how it goes.' He exhaled with relish, and I took the opportunity to snatch the offending article out of his fingers and stamp it out underfoot. 'Harlock!'

'Disgusting habit, and those things will kill you, just not as fast as Selen will if she catches you, ' I jerked a thumb back over to the door, to see Selen's grinning face vanish out of sight. 'Sorry, Zero, she got to me before you did, and she's a lot scarier than you are.' This earned me a filthy look, which I studiously ignored. Instead I stared through the moonlit gloom as Heavy Meldar's largest satellite rose behind the mountain, silhouetting the Arcadia on the summit. The same view I'd had about half a year ago in the daylight, before running to a destiny I'd not even dreamed of. I hadn't expected to live this long, for one thing. Hadn't cared too much either. This time...

This time I had a friend at my side, even if he was a bit pissed off with me right now. More inside, and my girl joining me in taking in the sight, her arm linking with mine, and after a minute or two, her golden head on my shoulder. My ship now on top of that rock. My future waiting to be seized with both hands, no longer a void I didn't want to peer into. This time, when I picked a fight, it would be a battle I cared about; my choices, my reasons. This was my freedom.

'If you really meant what you said, then fight against what truly oppresses you...'

Harlock's words, so long ago, the memory so vivid I almost expected to turn around and see him standing at my shoulder.

'Harlock?'

Kei's voice, and for a brief moment I thought she was sensing the same presence, then realised she'd been talking to me. I slipped my arm around her waist, holding her close. If I had enemies, I also had this. Something no machine could replicate, surely?

'Just daydreaming,' I said softly. She snuggled closer. I breathed in the cool, dusty air of an abandoned world, and as I exhaled, it felt as though the last remnants of my old self finally slipped away into that pale night.

Time enough tomorrow to worry about the future.


	9. Chapter 9

'No no no... you're leaving your blind side right open. Keep your damn head moving more. And keep your guard up. Again!'

I shifted my grip on the hilt of the sabre rifle, and this time tried to avoid getting a smack across my ribs from Zero, who'd been tasked with trying sneak attacks whilst Selen tried to take my head off by a more direct attack. Parry, lunge, retreat, engage, retreat, parry... finally spotting an opening, I took it, sending her sabre rifle flying to land point down quivering in the dusty ground behind the bar, shortly followed by Zero hitting the deck as I pivoted, dropped to avoid his attack, and swept a leg out from under him.

Any celebration was short lived, because Kei's sabre gently prodded the small of my back. Panting heavily I leaned on my blade. 'Oh that is so seriously unfair,' I grumbled. Selen laughed as she picked her weapon up.

'You were getting too cocky. An attack can and will come from any direction, and your enemies will not scruple to attack en masse.'

'If they have sabre rifles, they're also more likely to just stand back and shoot from a distance,' I pointed out, not unreasonably I thought.

'True, but there's always some idiot who fancies himself a swordsman who'll take the 'honourable' route.' Zero let me give him a hand up. 'However, they're easy to deal with.'

I sheathed my blade and grinned. 'I know, shoot the bastard whilst he's running to engage you.' I pushed a lock of sweaty hair out of my face. 'Pirate tactics.'

'Or just common sense…' Zero muttered a little pithily.

My shirt was dripping so I stripped it off, welcoming the cool mid morning breeze on my skin. Zero had shed his a while back, though Kei and Selen, in deference to our delicate sensibilities, had drawn the line at black tank tops, though both tiny vest tops were under considerably more strain than perhaps the manufacturer had bargained for...

A bucket of cold water was upended over my head, and I stood there dripping from head to foot, water trickling down into uncomfortable places whilst Zero hooted with laughter, almost dropping the damn bucket. 'Keep your eyes on your own lady, my friend.'

I wasted no time in returning the favour, and he just growled at me: 'What the hell was that for?'

'Eying up my girl, but we might have made a tactical error here,' I replied. I pointed to where our respective partners were standing, looking over us in undisguised admiration. Shirtless, wet, both of us, if I did say so myself, in pretty good shape, though Zero was packing considerably more muscle on an enviable, sculpted torso I was pretty sure I noticed Kei sneaking an admiring glance at. 'I'm thinking we should have chucked the water over those two instead.'

There were still a couple of buckets conveniently placed nearby for impromptu cooldowns. I shared a look with Zero, and we both grinned, the same evil thought occurring to both of us.

It was just unfortunate that I slipped, managing to miss Kei completely and soak Selen, prompting Zero to defend his lady's person by tackling me. The wrestling match in slippery mud that followed was just getting going, and I was losing badly to an older, stronger and wilier opponent, when a heavy heartfelt sigh of disgust and the sound of a booted foot tapping on the nearby decking of the veranda brought us up short in mid-chokehold.

One annoying, holier-than-thou self-proclaimed moral guardian of Arcadia, arms folded across her chest, looking down at two muddy, half naked grown men with undisguised contempt. 'Seriously, this is what you get up to instead of training?' She turned her gaze onto her aunt and Kei, both of whom were trying to fake something approaching disinterest, but failing miserably. 'Honestly.'

'Hand to hand combat practice,' I deadpanned. I managed to get to my feet and helped Zero to his. I grabbed a towel. From the frown I knew damn well she didn't buy it for an instant. 'What brings you out here, Your Highness?' She scowled even harder at that.

'Yattaran wants you back on the ship. Seems we might have company sooner than you thought.' She looked me up and down far more appraisingly than was suitable for a girl her age. 'You might want to put a shirt on. You're just too skinny to pull off that look. Uncle Rei's much better built.' She turned her back and walked off, whilst I contemplated the penalty for strangling the annoying brat.

Zero patted me on the back. 'It's really not worth it.' He pulled a towel off the pile on the veranda railing. 'Though she might have a point...' he trailed off sharply as I delivered a nasty little jab under the ribs.

'Stop sucking it in, Zero,' I gathered up my things, and headed for the bullet parked nearby. 'It only disappoints the ladies when you let it sag.' I just made out a muttered 'asshole', before ducking into the craft. The sound of a throat being cleared behind me brought me up short, and I didn't have to turn round to know my executive officer was standing behind me, arms folded and about to deliver a lecture. I dropped my stuff inside the cargo bay, and headed back out. 'I know, I know... get cleaned up and don't get your seats muddy...'

'Attaboy,' was the only half joking response. With a heartfelt sigh I headed for the washhouse behind the bar/hotel.

On the bridge a little while later, I still felt as though I had mud in my hair. I resisted the urge to fiddle with it, and asked for an update. Ali, manning Kei's station, gave me the rundown.

'Caught some chatter on the fleet wavelength. Still a day or two out, but sounds as though the Mephisto is heading this way.'

I frowned. 'On the open channel?' I asked. He nodded.

'That's why the first mate had us check the secure bands for activity. Totally silent, as you said. So what's going on?'

I glared at him. 'Why are you asking me?'

'Coz you're ex-fleet and should know these things?' he offered somewhat smugly. I honestly had to resist sticking my tongue out at the bastard.

'I was never regular fleet, and you bloody well know it. Stop putting me on the spot Ali.' It just earned me a smirk.

'They know that we can hack the warp feed. It could be a bluff designed to see if you'll take the bait and make a run for it.' Yattaran rubbed his head in thought.

I thought for a moment. 'The Prometheus will be silent running, hoping to catch us with our pants down. But Ichimonji is SPG... those guys don't tend to go in for space battles, they hug the ground...' I mused. 'If they want to flush the game...' The Mephisto was broadcasting her location for everyone in the sector to hear... which suggested… I took a deep breath. 'Crap. We're being played. All hands to battlestations, get the crew currently groundside back up here now - tell Kei to get a wiggle on. Mimay, I need us ready to lift off in five, if Kei's not back by then she'll have to rendezvous on the way up.'

Ali turned back to me after relaying the message. 'Too late, captain, she says they're pinned down near the town from the air. Can't get to the transport.'

'Shit.' I took a calming breath. The bastards had done an end run around us… How… where… I looked out of the viewscreen and thought hard. 'Yattaran, helm. Ali, co-ordinate the gunners and sweep for enemy ships. Eyeballs and heat sigs - I suspect they've come in from the other side of the planet using that moon as cover, and if they are stealthed, we'll struggle to get an instrumental lock. Knock any fighters down, but try to keep it away from the town. Mimay-' She materialised by my side, waiting quietly for instructions. 'I'm taking my fighter out; when I'm clear, fire up the drive and get Arcadia into orbit.'

'Captain - just the one?' Ali asked. 'No wingman?'

I nodded. 'Can't spare you, Ali. And the only other pilot is Kei and she's down there. I'm counting on you guys, so let's get it right!'

I heard the chorus of 'ayeaye, sir!' ring out behind me as I took the bridge stairs two at a time, flying down the hallway towards the fighter deck. Taking time only to suit up, I jumped into the cockpit, and had the space wolf flying out of the hanger in less than five minutes. A close candidate for the longest of my life, as I pointed the sleek plane towards the town.

I felt, as well as heard, the Arcadia's engines firing up behind me, and headed out of her wake as the dark matter cloud enveloped her. Below was the town, and the dashboard sensors had picked up the tell-tale trace of gunfire from below, even as the warning lights began flashing to show five planes heading in formation to the same point, closing in on my position from the left. And damn, they were flying low… no wonder we didn't spot them - they'd snuck in well under radar. Someone certainly understood the only other good use of fighters in space warfare...

Any thanks I might have given for a nicely grouped target though was quickly blown away as they broke formation and split off, gerrymandering to jockey into position for a multiple attack. Even as I pulled her up to gain some height and shake the one trying to grab me by the tail, their leader was already ahead of me, and he and one of the others had a lock on. Cursing, I had no choice but to break and lose the lock. But in doing so I spotted a chance at the ground troops. Looping up and round, I brought the space wolf in low, strafing the spot between the SPG and Kei and the rest. Hoping she could hear I opened the commlink.

'I can provide some cover, can you get to the transport?'

'Yes, but unless you get those fighters off our backs we'll be sitting ducks in the air!' I heard gunfire in the background, and tried to keep my imagination in check. Worrying would get us all killed.

'Just get there, I'll have your six,' I yelled back. The leader had a lock on me again, and again I had to pull one of Kei's suicidal turns to shake him. Whoever was flying that lead plane was an ace. Even in with him in the slower cosmo tiger, I was struggling to shake him.

And yet... so far, he hadn't actually fired on me... and he'd had plenty of chances. Come to think of it the ground troops had shown abysmal marksmanship as well.

I had to make another run to lay down covering fire to pin down the troops on the ground, but since I didn't really want to kill anyone I didn't have to, I kept it to a safe distance. Kei had the bullet hovering for take-off, and I got myself in between her and the fighter wing, laying down enough fire to keep them from targeting either of us too easily. Then she had the little craft airborne, and springing into the atmosphere, probably straining the design tolerance to the max judging by the little wobble it gave as she hit the troposphere. I clipped the two closest fighters, just enough to force the pilots to eject. Two of the others kept their distance, but I was careful to stay between them and the bullet. The leader hung back slightly, as though waiting for something.

Why didn't this guy want to engage? What was he waiting for? His ship couldn't be far behind, surely - the cosmo tiger didn't have a long range...

I had to bank quickly as he fired over the top of the cockpit, a series of staccato shots, rather than a continuous burst. The pattern reminded me of something, and rather late to the revelation, I realised it was the same code I'd used to signal the patrol ship from the Arcadia's gun turrets on my very first day on board. Taking the space wolf close in, I tried to entice him to follow me, keeping the remaining two wingmen at bay. This time I paid close attention to the message, and hoping I wasn't heading for a trap, I sent an acceptance via the same method. His wingmen peeled off, and the cosmo tiger headed for the deck.

With the sky cleared I quickly contacted the Arcadia to keep a weather eye out for trouble, and fended off Kei's objections. With a window of opportunity open and my back covered, I followed the plane down to the desert, where the pilot stood waiting for me.

I jumped down from the cockpit as lightly as I could, not wanting to highlight that my right leg was still not a hundred percent. The pilot waited for me, unmoving, a tall statue rendered faceless by his helmet. I'd left mine in the cockpit, since his message had made it clear he knew exactly who I was. I on the other hand, was flying blind. And assurances and the zero casualty count so far did nothing to allay my suspicions; I kept my right hand on the butt of my cosmo dragoon.

As I got nearer, I had a closer look at the guy. Taller than me - at least six-four at a guess. Broad shouldered, slim hipped, but more muscular. Mid to late thirties maybe, no youngster, but not yet thickening around the middle. I was about ten feet away when he finally lifted off his helmet, and I almost forgot to breathe.

A long thin scar ran across his left cheek, over his nose but stopping before it reached the right eye. Long shaggy hair, a darker, more reddish brown than mine. A long mustache framed a wide, but generous mouth - seriously non-regulation facial hair. If not for the fact he had both eyes however, I could have been looking at Harlock. Seriously…? Still, Harlock had a family before his "curse", so it shouldn't have been too big a shock that mine wasn't the only family with a nasty shock in the older branches of the genealogical tree...

Once I had a longer look, there were differences. The face was slightly longer, and he was a little shorter than Harlock had been, but not by much. The angle of his scar was different, more vertical. 'You look as though you've seen a ghost, lieutenant.' The voice was deeper than Harlock's. Gravelly, but a deep, harmonious baritone that commanded respect. He also wore the bars of a full colonel.

'For a moment, Colonel, I thought I had.' I confessed. He laughed, and that laugh was as full, deep and resonant as his voice. I doubted he'd ever need to raise it in anger. 'Colonel Ichimonji, I presume?' I extended my gloved hand which was taken in a firm grip. His file had lacked a picture to go with it, probably because we'd only hacked the fleet database, and they hadn't been on speaking terms much with the SPG.

'Dantetsu, please. Or Dan if you prefer. You, on the other hand.. I presume it's Harlock now, from what I hear?'

'You heard correctly.' I hesitated, wondering if there was any etiquette I might fall foul of asking if an upstanding officer was related to a notorious pirate...

He beat me to it. 'In case you were wondering, your grandfather and my father were brothers. The two went their separate ways long before I was born but don't ask me why - dad would clam up when asked. I didn't even find out about the Harlock family ghost until after he died.'

Tochiro had said something about Harlock's sons… huh. One day I was going to have to sit everyone down and piece some of it together…

'If dad knew or said anything to Isora, my brother didn't share it with me,' I replied. 'You have the advantage there - but forgive me for being cautious - I've had little reason to trust family lately. Why this meeting? I heard you'd been tasked with hunting me down, along with the Mephisto?' I waited for the answer.

'Gaia Fleet High Command does not have jurisdiction over the Space Panzer Grenadiers,' he replied brusquely. 'I left Hoshino kicking his heels a system back. Fleet lapdogs have a habit of being where they are not wanted, and having the nerve to demand assistance hunting down an outlaw in territory they've ignored for decades is winning them no friends.'

I eyed him up, looking for any sign of betrayal. 'What do you want?'

'Direct and to the point. Must run in the family, I guess.' He crossed his arms and gave me a frank stare. 'The fleet might ignore this sector of space, but we don't. And there is something terribly wrong out here, that people need to be made aware of.'

'The machinners?' I guessed.

He nodded. 'We're based on Destiny, which has plenty of defenses against them. But we're stretched thin. We need help.'

I found a convenient outcrop to perch on, and leaned against it arms folded, legs crossed at the ankles, as nonchalantly as I could get. 'Mars has already had contact with Lar Metal, so it won't be coming from there… So why me?'

He gave me a searching look. 'You really aren't too sure of me, are you?' he asked.

I smiled grimly. 'Sorry, but you have to admit this does come out of the blue somewhat. And since my own brother recently tried to kill me…''

He smiled back. Not entirely a pleasant sight. 'At least you're learning some caution,' he rumbled. 'That little stunt you and Rei pulled on Lar Metal was just plain dumb.'

I flushed, but couldn't really disagree. I'd carry the scars of that escapade for life. But the mention so casually of Rei's name raised questions. Especially since Zero hadn't bothered to mention he knew the guy.

'Playing it close still is he, I take it from your expression?' He laughed. 'You need to work on your poker face. Yes, we go back a way, back to the days of the rebellion on Lar Metal, but he knew me under another name. Get in touch and ask him if you can trust Captain Dan. I'll wait.'

Keeping my eye on the guy, I nudged my comm unit to life. 'Put Zero on,' I told Ali when he answered. I put the question to Zero and heard a dead silence on the other end. 'Zero? Can you vouch for this guy?'

'Not,' came the irritated reply, 'if the bastard was flying under false colours fifteen years ago. Tell him he's a lying, duplicitous lowlife. If I'd known he was SPG...'

I raised an eyebrow and relayed the message. Ichimonji just laughed.

'Ask him if he's quit chain smoking while lurking furtively on street corners yet. Filthy habit.' Though he said the last digging a battered pipe out of one pocket and lighting up. Fortunately the wind was in the other direction.

'If he's still using that battered old pipe, it's Dan.' Zero laughed on the end of the line. 'He's straight enough, just don't forget he's SPG, Harlock. He might share a cause, but you have a price on your head, and he's still a glorified policeman underneath. Watch yourself.'

'Understood.' I didn't relay the final comment, but from the raised eyebrow he gave me, Ichimonji probably had a pretty good idea. 'What exactly do you want from me, Dan?'

He puffed away, regarding me from under that mop of shaggy hair. His stare was rather unnerving, given his resemblance to a dead man.

'Actually, it's Rei and the lovely Selen I want to talk to. The Millennial Thieves leadership are travelling with you, according to the communique we intercepted from Geran. I've got entire planets being depopulated by that pompous ass and his witch-queen. I need their help.'

'And yet here you are attached to the task force hunting me. How the hell are you going to swing this with Hoshino? More to the point, have you told him about this?'

'Told him, got told it was none of his business. Tight-arsed little jobsworth is one of those idiots who can't think outside the box. His job is to capture you, dead or alive, but preferably dead. Looks down on us colonials from his lofty Martian high horse.' I coughed. 'No offense intended.' He added, a little sheepishly.

'None taken. It's not my home anymore.'

His pipe finished, he tapped the dottle out on a nearby rock. 'You're an outlaw, Harlock, normally I'd be throwing your ass in the nearest cell, but you managed to get Geran's panties in a bunch and that I have to admire. Never could stand the man. I can't work with you openly, that would undermine any legitimacy I have. What I can do is turn a blind eye, so to speak. If you can get Selen to Destiny, I'll take it from there...' He must have realised he'd stuck his foot in it again, and flushed slightly, and apologetic wave at my eyepatch. I decided to let him off the hook.

'I'll give you a pass on that one, don't worry.' I uncrossed my ankles and stood up Though it might be a decision I'd regret later, something told me he was on the level, at least about this. 'Keep Hoshino and his bathtub toy out of my hair, and I'll get you that meeting if Selen is willing.'

I offered my hand and it was taken in that firm grip again. Despite him being at least fifteen years my senior, I seriously wouldn't fancy going hand to hand with this guy. He just radiated a controlled menace and even through a padded flightsuit I could see he was built to back it up. Taller, heavier, longer reach... he'd have me for breakfast.

In a fair fight...

He looked past me briefly, as he dropped my hand, a wistful look in his eyes. 'Wish I'd had a chance to take on the rock over there. Maybe in better days...'

I grinned, suddenly sensing a kindred spirit. 'You a climber too?'

He smiled. 'Free climbing when I was younger. Not so much now. Hoping to take my son when he's old enough.'

'If we ever catch a break, call me. I'll give you a head start. On account of your age and all...'

The little huff he gave was pure Harlock. 'Punk kid..' but he smiled again, this time a lot less grim. He turned his back and headed for his fighter. I aimed myself at my black and red beauty, with a better spring in my stride than I 'd had for a while. A good man, if a bit frosty; I found myself hoping that we finally had an ally of sorts in the coming battle. But that, I figured, would be up to Selen and Zero.

I had another destination in mind, and my crew wasn't going to like it at all...

'Are you completely off your rocker?' It was the first time I'd ever heard Kei screech, and she was reaching notes an opera singer would envy. 'Mars?' Did you hit your head in the cockpit pulling a turn? In case it slipped your mind, you're an outlaw. Gaia Fleet's most wanted by a mile. And you somehow plan to just walk right through the toughest security in the galaxy, and do what exactly?'

'You know, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound that great, I know...' I was starting to wish I'd chosen to have this conversation in public. Right now I wasn't sure anyone would find the body... 'I'm not looking to enter via the capital, I plan to get in touch with an old colleague of my mother's - actually she's my father's cousin, an atmospheric scientist. Aunt Hiroko, we used to call her. She's a senior member of the Science Bureau, along with her husband. They have a place on the outskirts, near Olympus Mons.'

'And how the hell do you intend to even get to Mars? Just swoop down in a space wolf and try to avoid the security net...?' At my shifty shuffle, she placed her hands on her hips. 'I swear, you have the survival instincts of a lemming...'

'You've never even seen a lemming outside of a book' I pointed out. Bad move.

'Perhaps because they're extinct?' she said sweetly.

'If you have a better idea, I'm all ears,' I didn't intend to snap, but it came out a little sharper than intended. Truth to tell, it was a bad idea. But most of the others I'd had were even worse. Ever since we'd dropped Selen, Zero and the girls off on Destiny a week ago, I'd been racking my brains for a way to warn the council of Lar Metal's hidden agenda. Going through contacts at the Science Bureau had seemed like my best chance, and to do it, I had to go in person. Hiroko had known me since I was a child; she and her husband seemed like my best bet. Getting to her however was the sticking point, and I honestly didn't blame Kei for panicking. It was the stupidest idea I'd had to date.

'Nothing springs to mind, which is why I'll be coming with you.'

Aaaand my stupidity was obviously contagious... 'No.'

'I'm not asking.'

'Good, because it isn't happening.' This time, I really was going to put my foot down.

We left the Arcadia parked in the Kuiper Belt, far enough out to avoid detection, close enough for Yattaran and Mimay to pull us out if we hit trouble. Tracking objects in a region of frozen volatiles was notoriously difficult, and to be sure, we'd hugged the dwarf planet Makemake for a little extra cover. Patrols tended to avoid flying into this area, due to navigational problems, but since we didn't have to worry about micro-punctures and the central computer could cope handily with the calculations needed for navigation and object tracking far better than any fleet ship, we were safe enough. That had just left us threading through the Pluto defence line in a modified bullet capable of small scale IN-SKIP translation; another little side project Yattaran and Tochiro had gotten their heads together over.

In the aftermath of a major demolition of half the fleet, and a cyber incursion that commandeered the entire warp feed not too long ago, you really would think that High Command would have changed their codes. Yet with a minor tweak to a bullet's IFF, and piggy-backing on Levary's ID codes, we made it through security without a hitch. Seriously, it was like taking candy from a baby, and I must have been grinning like a lunatic all the way down. Kei, next to me in the co-pilot's seat was kept busy with ICE, using a programme Yattaran had come up with to stay one step ahead of what security we did encounter, and making sure we stayed off radar, which also meant some fancy flying needed in the valleys of the Martian desert.

But we made it to the flat red plain near our destination with no trouble, and with a holographic net in place over the craft, hopefully no-one would spot it. As with most systems, an over reliance on machines actually made it easier. That, and at least two thirds of the fleet was still in dry dock being repaired or rebuilt. My bad.

My aunt's place was in a small town, a couple of hours flight from the capital. Olympus Mons loomed over the small cluster of habitats on the plain, and I caught Kei giving it a serious once-over. I grinned.

'Not without a support team, you don't.'

She huffed at me. 'Didn't even occur to me.' I just shook my head and walked, stretching out in the familiar gravity so that she had to trot to keep up until I decided to play nice and slow down. Thankfully it wasn't a long trek, and within a short time we were standing at the entrance to a small dome, whilst I hesitated at the door. Across the street a few small boys were playing some kind of rough and tumble game involving chasing and waving sticks at each other. One tousle-headed rugrat was running around with his jacket sleeves tied around his neck, and what looked like an eyepatch over one eye. A snigger at my side was a pretty good clue Kei hadn't missed this.

'Don't,' I ground out through gritted teeth. 'Just don't.' I took a deep breath and pressed the intercom button.

'Who is it?' A woman's clear voice called out over the speaker. There was a brief pause, and a startled 'oh my word! Yama?'

The door opened, and Aunt Hiroko stood in the doorway, dark hair pulled back into her usual tight bun, though a little greyer than I remembered. We were ushered in quickly, and the door closed behind us. Almost instantly we faced a barrage of questions.

'My dear boy, what on earth have you been doing? Your uncle and I were going frantic when we heard you were missing. And then security showed up, asking all kinds of questions... no-one would tell us what was going on, your brother's missing but wanted by the military about poor Nami, then you were mentioned on the warp news and people were saying you've started calling yourself Harlock, and taken that pirate's place. But we all know you're no terrorist or criminal, so we weren't sure what to make of it... Who is this lovely girl? you must introduce her properly, and what on earth happened to your face?'

When she finally stopped to get her breath I gave her a hug. 'It's lovely to see you, aunt, but this is isn't really a social call. If we can sit down, I'll answer everything, but is Uncle Tsuyoushi around? I'd rather not go over it twice.'

'He's out back, dear, I'll just fetch him. You just go right ahead and make yourself at home. Dear me, you still know how to make waves, my boy. Really...'

I headed for the reception room, Kei in tow looking a little shell-shocked.

'Is she always like that?'

'Pretty much. Her husband's quieter, but we always figured that was because he could never get a word in edgewise.'

'You might well think so, my boy, but I wouldn't let her hear you say that.' My uncle was pretty much how I remembered, though even greyer and shaggier. His moustache would have given Ichimonji's soup-catcher a run for its money. He took my hand in a firm shake, and rather more gently accepted Kei's. 'Delighted, young lady. Is my worthless nephew going to introduce you?'

'Kei, Professor Tsuyoushi Daiba. He's an archaeologist and anthropologist. Uncle, this is Kei, my XO and...' I stalled a little there, as I hadn't exactly ever discussed how our relationship was actually progressing. 'Girlfriend' sounded a bit childish, 'partner' a bit vague, 'fiancé' was getting a bit ahead of myself and 'lover' was a little too much information.

'They always panic at that point my dear, just ignore him, he's not being deliberately evasive.' Saved by my aunt, who embraced a startled Kei warmly, but giving me a look that I knew meant a private dressing down later. 'Both of you sit, sit!' We obediently obliged, and soon found ourselves being grilled by an expert. Once I'd finished with the shorter version of events from my assignment to kill Harlock up to the present, both of them exchanged looks. It was the professor who took up the gauntlet.

'There have been rumours in the bureau for a while now. The council has been scurrying around for months trying to spin the revelations about Earth you and Harlock - the old Harlock, I suppose I should say - uncovered, and trying to restore order and confidence. You stirred up a hornet's nest, my boy, and no mistake. The idea of giving the masses a way to live that allows them to cope with any environment - maybe even functional immortality as a bonus... Well, a lot of people will jump at it, and the council will reap the rewards for being the saviours of mankind.' He looked distinctly unhappy. 'There are far too many who will embrace the chance, regardless of the risks, and many would still do so even knowing the cost. That's simply human nature, sadly.'

'I never expected this to be easy, but there's a worrying agenda behind this we haven't got to the bottom of. Professor, in your travels, did you ever come across any relics of Nibelung civilisation on the outer worlds?'

He tugged at his moustache. 'A few years ago I was the team leader on an expedition to a world we thought might be Niflheim itself. If it was, any traces had been completely destroyed by a cataclysm not too dissimilar to what I've seen on Earth since the bureau let us travel down. I suspect at some point a similar dark matter catastrophe overtook them. But there were some strange anomalies on that world. My team also came to the conclusion that the disaster took place recently, although the dates contradict the official story. Our records state only four of their race survived before the Homecoming War, with only Harlock's nibelung lady friend surviving the aftermath. Niflheim was a dying world, but not a dead one a hundred years ago. Baffling. We left none the wiser, I'm afraid. The funding ran out, and we had to pack up.'

'Mimay told us there might have been other survivors after all. Rebels playing with questionable technology...' Kei added. 'If we also have Nibelung scientists trying to manipulate dark matter on a massive scale, the results might be even worse than the captain's goal of releasing the shackles of linear time.'

The professor mused for a while. I didn't push, I knew he liked to take his time with his thoughts once he had a path to follow. Hiroko busied herself sorting out an impromptu tea, though she was interrupted at one point by a small tornado running into the room disguised as a six year old boy. I only just caught him as he tripped and almost went head first into the table.

'Tadashi!' I set the small bundle of energy back on his feet, whilst my aunt chided him for rushing around. He was, I noticed, the little boy who'd been running around outside playing pirate. He was also sporting a grazed knee, dirty face, muddy hands and a small cut on his head, ministrations to which he shrugged off with an irritated sigh.

'I'm fine, mom. Just a scratch.' He practically bounced on the spot with excitement. 'You should have seen me! I got all the way to the top of the wall, and none of them dared come up after me!' He'd still got his coat tied around his neck, and swished it dramatically. 'Captain Harlock won't be captured by the fleet!' he declaimed.

'And at what point in this great battle did you manage to fall off?' I drawled. Which cut short the bouncing at least.

'Oh, I tripped. But it's nothing! Captain Harlock never gives up!' He peered at me from under a mop of tangled brown hair. 'Cousin Yama?' The human hurricane bounced into the seat between me and Kei. 'Papa and mom were worried about you. I heard them talking. You've not been round in forever... Did you bring anything for me this time? Where did you get the scar? You'd look just like Harlock if you had an eyepatch! Who's the pretty lady? Is Cousin Isora here? I hope not, he's always so mean...'

I tried to tune out the incessant babble, and rolled my eyes in Kei's direction. She was trying desperately not to laugh, and failing miserably.

'Do they come with an off switch?' she asked, sotto voce. Hiroko heard her and smiled.

'This one doesn't, I'm afraid, dear. Don't worry, the batteries do wear down eventually, thank goodness.'

I'd noticed she looked tired, and said so. She smiled ruefully. Her impish offspring busied himself climbing into Kei's lap and tried to show her the wooden 'cosmo dragoon' he'd made with a couple of sticks and some string. 'It is tiring,' she admitted. 'We'd given up trying, and just concentrated on our work instead, when he came along. I'm sure you remember what a surprise we gave you all? I guess we're both a little old for this.' She smiled fondly, and rescued a rather nervous looking Kei from the one-boy horde clambering all over her. 'I wouldn't be without him now though.' Unwilling to be held for long, he wriggled out of her arms and was back between myself and Kei, questions coming at a rapidfire rate.

It was comforting, to be back amongst some semblance of normality, even for a little while. I hadn't seen them in almost two years, and the lure of that comfortable family life was strong. I missed it, but it wasn't my life. Not now, and not for a while since. But when silence finally fell, I looked over to see a little dark head nestled in Kei's lap, and she looked as though she didn't know whether to run for cover or freeze solid for a moment, until she reached down with a slender hand and stroked tangled hair back from a dirty face.

I thought back to the empty, apathetic machinners of Lar Metal. The blank, uncaring stares of eyes that had given up on life in favour of existence. There might, perhaps, be a very few with a strong enough will who might keep some vestige of their humanity, but we were a species all too prone to throwing such away even without the help of machines. If I needed an argument to persuade me once and for all that Lar Metal's way was fundamentally wrong, I had it here in front of me: a couple who thought they'd never have a child. A little boy who Promethium's regime would throw away as garbage, fast asleep in the lap of a girl who'd never had a family of her own, who had a look of such longing on her face I almost couldn't breathe. This was our immortality, not the pitiful existence offered by a machine body. Nothing could possibly be worth giving this up, no matter how hard it was, or how painful.

I kept the thought to myself for now, however, and leaned towards Kei, careful not to disturb the sleepy little boy in her lap. 'Just so you know, we can't take him with us...' Her answering smile was strangely shy.

'You should be working on one or two of your own by now,' Hiroko said softly, smiling at us. Then she blushed as Kei flushed slightly and I coughed. 'Oh dear. I just assumed...'

The professor just laughed kindly at her flustered fussing. 'My dear, I think they have bigger concerns right now.' He turned to his wife. 'Perhaps you should sort our scruffy offspring out, I don't think he should be present for our discussions.'

'I'll give you a hand,' Kei offered. 'He looks like hard work.'

Although she might just have been keeping a wary eye on my aunt, I silently blessed her for helping out unasked. That little livewire probably kept them run off their feet. Though I also suspected Kei didn't want to give him back just yet, because she walked out with his arms still wrapped around her neck and his head burrowing sleepily into her shoulder.

With them out of the room, the professor started pacing. 'I do have some recordings made from our expedition. I assume this Nibelung woman is still aboard the Arcadia?' I nodded. 'Would she perhaps be willing to look at some of it, perhaps offer any translations of texts found?'

'Maybe. Getting information out of her can be like pulling teeth, but she might. You do know that asking this might put you in jeopardy if it got out you'd consorted with pirates? I'm not exactly welcome in civilised worlds these days. '

'I'm not even sure I want to ask why you decided to stay on the wrong side of the law, my boy.'

'It wasn't exactly intentional...'

He laughed. 'Dear boy. It never is with you. You've been the poster child for the law of unintended consequences since you were Tadashi's age. Though given the way his mother can put her foot in it with little effort, and my son's growing tendency to throw himself in at the deep end, I suspect it is a family trait!'

I winced, but couldn't argue the point. He clapped me on the back. 'Oh, don't let it worry you. You've a good heart, not a mean bone in your body. Not that IntSec believe that when I tell them. Now, I can certainly take your concerns to the bureau , though they think I'm a mad old duffer with a fixation on alien ruins and old legends. There are a few like minded souls who will certainly question the effect such a process could have on both the individual and society. Whether or not the council can be persuaded to take our advice is another matter, but I suspect you appreciate that.'

'It's a longshot at best, but they have the resources if they choose to use them. I'm just one man with a small crew. No matter the size of the Arcadia's guns, they aren't something you bring to bear until you've exhausted all other options.'

'You still have some faith in the better part of human nature, at heart.' He sighed heavily. 'I hope you never lose that, Yama.' We shook on that, and he busied himself downloading the data from Niflheim.

Towards the end of the dataload, he turned to me with a wicked little smile. 'Are you still interested in your botanical studies?'

'I can't spend as much time as I'd like on them, but I have tried. Why?'

He called up a series of pictures on the display. 'I probably shouldn't show someone outside the bureau, but your mother would have liked these, she always enjoyed the old stories from Earth mythology. Here, what do you think of these?'

The pictures - pencil sketches and watercolours drawn by a skilled hand, showed trees, or rather the blackened, twisted remnants of them. The red and black sky made it clear this was somewhere on the dark matter torn Earth. As I looked more closely however, wondering what it was I was looking for, I saw it.

'They look like women coming out of the trees...' As an optical illusion, it really was stunning. It looked for all the world as though these women were trying to pull themselves free of the tree trunks, in different stages of success. Some with what looked like arms free, some still stuck half way. But as I looked more closely, I even started to feel there was something terrifying about the scene. Their faces were contorted with fear and pain. Their bodies seemed twisted, as though desperately trying to escape. I pulled away with a shiver.

'It's as though the legends my mother told me about the tree nymphs - dryads - had come to life. I remember her saying most cultures on Earth had them in one form or another; deadly, fey women who lured men to their deaths. A standard anima-menace myth I think you called it? Something to do with the sexual fears of men in primitive societies... She used to love your talks on vegetation myths. But it is just an illustration, isn't it? Yet it looks as though the artist was drawing them from life...'

He closed down the display. 'I wish I'd had time to find out. These were sent to me by one of my colleagues - a Professor Hiltz, just before he was killed in a traffic accident. He'd been working in what was once the Yucatan, just after you pulled your little stunt - not that the council let them stay long - they were quickly called back. I wondered if they were just his idea of a joke, but as you say, there's something about the perspective and the detail that looks so life-like. He did say that their recording equipment had broken down a few days after they arrived so he had to resort to old-fashioned methods. I'm hoping to be assigned to the next expedition; if I am, I might take a closer look, and though I can't make out where exactly he made these I do know the rough location his team explored. I'll let you know what I find.'

'Please do, I think I'd like to know more.' The image of those tormented forms just wouldn't stop bothering me, but he quickly gave me a distraction.

'By the way, my boy. I do have a favour to ask.'

'If I can help, you only need to ask.'

'You know Hiroko and myself came to parenthood a little late in life?' I nodded and he continued 'If anything should happen to both of us, I was hoping I could count on you to be there for the boy...'

'You do remember I live on a battleship and have a price on my head?'

He laid a hand on my shoulder, and it occurred to me how small and frail he now looked. I knew he was a fair bit older than Hiroko, but until now, hadn't really taken into account what that might mean. 'You don't have to take him with you, unless you feel it's for the best. I just want to know there's someone there if it becomes necessary. You are the closest family he has after us. It would set my mind at ease.'

I hoped it would never come to that, but I wouldn't leave the boy alone in the world if anything happened, and the promise couldn't hurt. 'I'll do what I can. If you need me, get a call out over the warp. My central computer will find it.'

He patted my shoulder. 'I knew I could count on you. Now. Let's make sure Hiroko isn't frightening your young lady away with tales of your childhood escapades, shall we?'

I followed him inside, enjoying his patter. If nothing else it put off the moment I'd have to confess to Kei that I planned on visiting the capital. I had a long overdue goodbye to make...


	10. Chapter 10

'Stop fiddling with it, it isn't that tight.' Kei tapped my fingers where they were tugging at a high collar, then finished tucking a white silk scarf into the front of my new jacket and stood back to examine her handiwork. 'There. Much better.' She moved out of the way and when I didn't immediately turn towards the mirror, gave me a little push in the right direction.

'It's black,' I pointed out, a little ungraciously. The jacket was cut in a similar style to my old grey one, with a discreet skull and crossbones on the left breast. It finished at the top of my thigh, and was worn over a matching flightsuit, the trousers of which tucked into shiny new black boots.

'Midnight blue,' she corrected, a little frostily. Since I was being an ungrateful bastard, I apologised. She was right, it did look smart, and the hitech fabric was a much better quality than my old grey outfit, which had been lifted from the Arcadia's stores along with a couple of spares. Less stiff, but even more effective, or so Maji had assured her. The addition of the neatly ruffled scarf she'd tucked cravat-like into my open collar gave me a decidedly rakish air.

And I defied her royal red haired majesty to find fault with this get-up. The little skull motif even had a way of being covered over if needed.

'I'm sorry, Kei. I'm a snappy, ungrateful bastard, and I don't deserve you. It looks great.'

'It'll look even better if you'd stop rolling your sleeves up,' she made as if to stop me from my usual trick of folding them over to halfway up my lower arm, but gave up with a little sigh when I slapped her fingers away.

'I like my sleeves up. Take the win, Kei. By the way - I do hope you weren't planning to throw away my old kit?' From the guilty look on her face, the answer was 'yes'. Tightening my gun belt around my waist and settling the holster on my hip, I took a good long look at her own update. A cream sweater under a dark blue jacket, a similar cut to mine, cream slacks, tucked into knee boots for a change. She 'd been persuaded to leave her favourite pair of antique bolt guns behind in favour of one of the upgraded dragoon style pistols. I noticed however that the volume of knives tucked into every available hiding place hadn't diminished.

Hopefully we wouldn't stand out too much in the capital. Weapons were generally permitted, mostly for military personnel and offworlders. If the general citizenry of Mars didn't pack as a matter of course, that was a matter of choice, not law. We'd easily pass for a couple from the provinces, notoriously independent when it came to such matters.

The capital. I hadn't been there in a year or so, but nothing had changed. Above the teeming main concourse the gothic walkways of the Gaia Sanction cathedral arched in sterile elegance. Below this monument to avarice and self-interest us mere mortals had to walk quite literally in their shadow.

Fleet personnel and IntSec pushed their way through the crowds with total unconcern for anyone in their way. With practiced self-preservation most people moved out of the way on instinct, unwilling to stand their ground against these institutional bullies. I had to be elbowed twice by Kei to remind me with a hissed warning not to glare quite so obviously at the perpetrators. In the end I settled for keeping my hand close to my pistol grip. Most of them got the message and kept a safe distance. I didn't realise until Professor Daiba pointed it out that it wasn't strictly necessary.

'You've changed, my boy. The way you hold yourself marks you as someone not to mess with. Miss Kei here as well.'

'The crowds don't seem to notice,' Kei muttered. She had a death grip on my free hand, being totally uncomfortable in a crowd. I could have kicked myself for not realising that someone raised entirely on spaceships would have little experience with large crowds. She bore it well, but it took her a while to relax a little. I couldn't offer a casual arm around her shoulders, as mine were currently occupied by a small scamp enjoying the view.

'Bullies and predators recognise those who shouldn't be messed with.'

'We're pirates, professor, not heroes. Thieves, murderers, outlaws. Or people just in the wrong place at the wrong time,' Kei replied.

Daiba just laughed. 'Oh, you'd be surprised how many folk heroes could be called such. In the end, I think most of them were men or women who just wanted to the right thing, no matter what the cost. I suspect your old captain started out with the best of intentions, but lost his way in guilt and anger. You know, I'd love some time with the young man you say is now part of the ship's computer. What little in the files I could find about Ooyama Toshiro makes for fascinating reading. A remarkable young man, truly remarkable.'

From his tone I sensed a qualified reservation. 'But not Harlock so much, I'm guessing?'

He hesitated, briefly. 'From what little is in the records and from what both you and Kei told us last night... I think he was once a dedicated young man who lost control of something he simply didn't appreciate the magnitude of. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say.' Another pause, and a sideways glance, as if weighing me up. 'If you'll pardon an old man's intrusion, I would give you a warning. This ship - it's an amazing gift, but it's also a terrible responsibility. For what it's worth, I'm glad it's in your hands, not your brother's, for example. But if you ever find yourselves - and young lady, I do include you in this, because I suspect the two of you have a pretty equal stake in this - looking in the mirror and not recognising the person you see there, don't be afraid to do what he did - find a worthy successor, and walk away. If there's one thing any study of the old myths my colleagues find so ridiculous, it's that all too often the heroes of today either die young, or become the tyrants of tomorrow. Don't die - and don't become what you fight against.'

Tadashi was suddenly restless at the endless chatter from the grown ups and demanded to be put down. His father lifted him down from my shoulders, albeit with some effort, but the little boy wanted down and was soon running around underfoot, his mother trying to keep an eye on him.

'We're here,' The professor said softly. We stopped at the entrance to the conservatory. 'Hiroko and I still have some papers to sort with the bureau over ownership. Sadly, since you're declared outlawed, all property was confiscated, though we did salvage what we could. Nami's memorial is near the tropical section, just follow the signs.' He patted me kindly on the arm. 'We'll meet you back here in an hour.'

Once they had gone, Kei gave me a searching look. 'Are you sure you want me to come with you? If it's something you'd rather do alone...'

I placed my arm around her, rather enjoying the sensation when she wasn't wrapped up in body armour or a high-performance flight suit. More Kei, less leather wasn't a bad thing. 'I want you there, if that's okay? In her message to me she said she hoped I'd come back with someone special of my own. I'll never be able to introduce you to her, but still...'

She leaned against me. 'I understand. I still think you're crazy wandering around like this, right in the heart of the capital, but I get why you're doing it.'

'Because I'm a lemming?'

'Probably. But you also get off on thumbing your nose at these idiots and running rings round their security. At least, that's what your uncle suggested when you were busy showing Tadashi how to properly fence with a wooden sword earlier. Seems his anthropological studies also include a lot of practical psychology...' If she wanted to add anything deeper to the discussion, I never got to hear it, because my practical, overly conscientious XO suddenly developed the attention span of a gnat and was tugging my arm to drag me over to a raised bed full of flowers. 'Are those real roses?'

I think it was at that point I realised it was going to take a while to walk the next hundred yards or so, but it was hard not to follow her lead. Nami's greenhouse, full of light, water and a myriad of flowers was a joy to walk through. Professor Daiba had told me the bureau planned to open it to the public eventually. A lasting memorial to her work and short life. Already some of her research was being used by agricultural scientists offworld.

So it was with a much lighter heart than I'd ever imagined I'd have that I finally approached the marker the professors had placed for her, near a small fountain amid a cluster of Himalayan poppies, their tissue-paper sky blue flowers providing a fittingly delicate backdrop to the simple white marble. Just her name, date of birth and death, and an engraving of the little white flowers she'd been surrounded by in that last recording; the same flowers that bloomed on Earth.

Looking down at the white stone, all the carefully rehearsed speeches I'd practiced for months now just went clear out of my head. Even if they hadn't, my throat had closed up tight, and I couldn't have gotten a word out just then if I'd tried.

'It's okay, I don't think you have to say it out loud,' Kei whispered. I squeezed her hand.

'I'm not sure if I believe in any kind of afterlife, but if there is one, I'd like to think she knows I'm here, with you.' I knelt beside the marker, brushed a little bit of dust off it with my fingers. Kei had moved a few feet away to give me a little privacy, as well as standing guard

I rested my hand on the top of the marble, my eyes closed.

What could I say, in the end? "I'm sorry" had spilled out of me years ago in a never ending torrent and for what? "I love you" I'd never had the courage to spit out until it was too late - and oh, the laugh was on myself and Isora here, because Nami's mother had been caught in the middle between our respective fathers before choosing our father's best friend over him, and fate it seemed loved variations on a theme…

I glanced over to where Kei stood. I'd vowed from the start she wouldn't face my mother's fate, to feel like a consolation prize. 'You were right, in the end, Nami,' I whispered. 'I had to put the past away and find my own life. I just wish you were still in it. You'd love Kei, I think. She's smart, funny, fierce and beautiful, and doesn't take any nonsense from me - the two of you would have had a field day comparing notes about my screw-ups. If not for her, I sometimes think I'd not have made it this far. I wish I could have brought her home to meet you...'

I stood up. There were still so many thing left unsaid, so much I wished had turned out differently, but then if they had, maybe Harlock would have succeeded, and none of this would matter. But Kei was right. Most of what I really wanted to say was in my heart, and if there was indeed something remaining of us after death, then those who needed to hear it would. Even, I supposed, Isora and Harlock.

Most of what I wanted to say, however, needed to be said to the living not the dead. Kei had been right to try and talk me out of this. But I'd needed to figure that out for myself. 'I will always miss you…' I whispered, brushing the top of the marble with my fingertips.

'Harlock...' Kei's voice came quietly over the commlink, despite her standing within earshot if she raised her voice. That, even more than her tone put me on alert. She stood with her back to me as if examining some flowers, carefully disinterested, but her shoulders were tense, her hand in front of her could reach her pistol at need, but why she hadn't acted I didn't know. Until I turned to my blind side.

A woman, in a long plain black dress with a high neck. Her hair was long - falling in golden waves to her knees, and held back from her face by a three pronged crown, an ancient design, enamelled in red, matching a simple necklace of what looked like the teeth of some monstrous predator around her neck, a necklace of blood drops. Her face...

I had seen it before, on a monument in the processing facility on Lar Metal. The human face of the queen, Promethium. Young, beautiful, but imperious and with a cruel set to that beautiful mouth that I really didn't like. And yes, superficially at least she did resemble Selen, but had none of her sister's warmth and fire. She was alone, and I wondered why Kei hadn't simply fired.

The reason was a little closer to the ground, because Tadashi had his hand trustingly in hers.

'It seems you really are as predictable as Geran suggested, young Harlock.' Her voice was lovely, but again, there was a cold, brittle edge to it that grated on my nerves. 'I've had people on Mars waiting to see if or when you would show your face near your remaining family or this place. Imagine my surprise when this little boy showed up wandering around looking for his cousin...'

'Let the boy go.' I kept my tone as light as possible, not wanting to alarm my little cousin, but he looked at me and then tried to pull his hand free, unsuccessfully.

'You're hurting me!'

'Tadashi, I won't let her. Can you stand very still for a little while longer?' He nodded. 'Good. What do you want, Promethium?'

'To talk, for one thing. Our goals do not have to be so different, after all.'

'Firstly, on that you're dead wrong. No-one who contemplates what you're doing can claim any kinship with me and mine. Secondly, I don't talk to puppets, and unless you stop hiding behind your clones, I've nothing to say to you. You're a coward, hiding in the shadows and behind little boys.'

'It's simply a matter of convenience, to use these bodies. I cannot be everywhere, after all. But you have something of mine, and I want it back.' She knelt down behind a nervous Tadashi and hugged him. Hating it, he squirmed, and I silently begged him to stay still. Whether he understood or was just too scared to move, he stopped, but the look he gave me of calm trust almost broke my heart. I had to get him away.

'You seem to have something of mine. Let him go, and I'll hear you out at least.'

'I don't think so. I rather prefer having your undivided attention. You have two things I want, as it happens, one of which is your amazing ship, but that we can discuss more formally with my fleet commander. The other is more personal. You have my daughter, and I want her back.'

'You have two daughters, as I recall.'

'Oh, you can keep the other one. I want Maetel, my beautiful girl. And you will return her to me.'

I laughed. 'You know, my uncle should be here for this. He has a treasure trove of old legends about sad, aging women who want to relive their lost youth through their children. Is that why you want the one who resembles you the most? Or because you think she's the more malleable of the two and you can turn her into a copy of yourself?'

A dangerous move, to anger her, but I needed her off balance, to keep her attention from Kei, who I trusted to get herself into position. Thanks to Selen however I did have a plan. 'Why don't you take that crown off so we can talk more freely. How much autonomy does she give you all, these dolls? Those crowns give you her memories, but isn't there some part of you which is Yayoi, the chosen queen, and not Promethium as she is now? Or do you lose yourself when that thing gets put on your head? I know the idea terrified Selen so much she fled. Did you hate her for that? For making you the chosen one, not her?'

'You know nothing,' she snapped. 'Your pathetic idea to show the council the scope of my dream? They already know, and they applaud it. What could you offer? You're just a scarred, guilt-ridden youth playing pirate. Forever tormenting yourself for an explosion that you didn't even cause - loving a woman who preferred your older brother - a man so tormented by his own demons that he sat not ten yards from this very spot, and pulled out the power cord to his beloved wife's life support system when she goaded him into ending her sorry existence. My way could have spared both of them. Your brother could have walked, upright, whole. Nami would have been able to hold him, make love to him..'

Her hands must have tightened around Tadashi's shoulders where she held him because he whimpered slightly. I made as if to move towards her, keeping her attention on me. 'I don't think you even know what love is anymore. How could you, when you would discard one daughter because she doesn't meet your standards, had your own husband murdered by a Nibelung puppet and want to turn your other daughter into the woman you once were because somewhere deep inside there's a part of you who's screaming at you for what you've given up. You've lost so much of your humanity you not only hide behind children, you prey on them.' I turned my back on her, knowing it would infuriate. 'Now, Kei.'

I heard the clattering sound of a metallic object hitting the floor and rolling away, and whirled round, diving for my little cousin, pulling him free of the suddenly motionless woman who stood, vacant eyed, before collapsing to the floor. I hugged a shivering Tadashi close and looked up at Kei, whose well timed high tackle had sent the red crown flying from the head of the copy queen. 'Knew I could count on you.' She knelt beside me, and the stranglehold around my neck transferred to hers.

'I'm just glad you kept her occupied. I'm not sure why we don't just kill the bi-' she paused, looking down at the dark head nestled against her. 'That woman.'

'Not in front of a child. Besides, she'll just keeping sending in the clones. It's not those we need to dispose of, they're just puppets, dangling on her strings. We want the witch herself. This thing, without the Crown controlling it, is a shell.' Promethium had presumably cleared out the area for her little 'talk' because no one came running. I knelt down beside them. 'Tadashi? Hey there...' A tearful little face looked at me.

'Are you really Harlock like the nasty lady said?' Awe had warred with fear and won, it seemed. A small hand reached up and brushed the scar on my cheek. 'Where's your eyepatch?'

The resilience of youth... I pulled the item in question out of my pocket. 'Just covers some of the damage. But Tadashi, you can't talk about me to anyone. It could put you and your parents in danger. Can I rely on you? Man to man?' I held out my hand, and after a moment it was taken by a little one and given a determined grip for his age. 'Now, let's get you back to your parents, shall we? We don't want a repeat of last time, do we?' That got a giggle as I swung him up onto my shoulders again.

'Last time?' Kei asked as we left. 'I'm almost afraid to ask.'

'Let's just say that space battles and having a gun pointed at your head are nowhere near as terrifying as standing in the middle of a shopping mall and realising that you've just lost sight of a four year old. Longest. Five. Minutes. Of. My. Life. And then I wanted to throttle the little sod when he peek-a-booed me from behind a pillar. You are just plain lucky I shipped out later that day or retribution would have been severe, young man.' That earned me another giggle, and I shared a smile with Kei. Though she gave me a sharp look.

'You're shaking.'

'Longest five minutes until today,' I admitted grudgingly. 'I can't abide anyone who puts a child in danger. And she picked on him because of me. I shouldn't have come back, you were right.'

'At least we know how connected she is to the council. That's something.' Kei took my arm. 'I won't shed a tear for those guys getting the short end of the deal.'

'Don't be too sure. I wouldn't want to live in a world run by men like that shorn of any kind of humanity. '

'You're in this mess because you can't stand the world they already run, remember?' She punched my arm. 'Basically, you're just a natural born rebel.'

I couldn't argue the point, so I just turned to look back at the conservatory one last time.

Standing in the doorway, with what I could only assume was an amused, predatory smile, was a Nibelung male.

'Kei.' With as little fuss as I could manage, I lifted Tadashi down and told him to take Kei's hand. 'Get him back to the professors, then contact the Arcadia. We might need to get out in a hurry.' With that I walked back to the door, following the blue man back into the airy building.

The clone was still lying on the floor, unconscious or dead, it was hard to tell. I ignored it, and checked out the new arrival. Tall, easily taller than me, perhaps even than Harlock had been. Willowy and strangely attenuated limbs, and moving with the same fluid grace as Mimay. The hair was a similar pale blue-green, varying with the light, but shorter, only reaching his shoulders. Like Mimay he wore a bluish pale, form fitting flight suit, but without her diaphanous veils. Like hers, his eyes were large and blue, with a cat-like vertical slit, occasionally flickering with a third eyelid, the only outward sign of any agitation on that otherwise impassive face. I wasn't too sure how much this race resembled each other, but something in the features definitely reminded me of Mimay.

'Loki, I presume? Unless anything of Alberich remains in your stolen body?'

'Mimay hasn't told you the whole truth.' Like hers, his voice was light and musical. Not deeper in the way a human male voice differed from female, but simply richer in an undefinable way. I supposed a musician might have been able to quantify it better than I could. But it rang in my mind like a bell, compelling and soothing. I shook it off with an effort.

'Maybe not, but walking round in a stolen body hardly inspires trust. And that is her brother, isn't it?' I'd been tempted to open with 'tell me something I don't know', since accusing Mimay of holding back on information was stating the bloody obvious. I was convinced she'd tie herself in knots if she tried to give me a straight answer to anything.

He inclined his head gracefully. 'As you say. Perhaps we should converse elsewhere. This place is hardly-'

'I prefer to stay close to an exit. ' Even to my own ears my voice sounded harsh and rough compared to his. 'What do you want?'

He cocked his head on one side, a move that Mimay could make appealing and inviting. From this guy it felt as though I was being eyed up for dinner. 'That's a broad question, with many possible answers depending on the context. What do I want? I want my race to live again. I want to put things back the way they were. I want to talk to Mimay. I want your cursed ship. So many wants, yet most served by that last.'

'Where does she fit in?' I pointed at the prone woman in black. 'You tricked her into using her own people as fodder for your plan, but what I can't figure out is where they fit into it.'

'Ask Mimay, when you return to your ship, Harlock. Ask her about the darkness that spawned us. Ask her where we came from, and what eventually destroyed us. If she answers you truthfully, you will have your answer, and we can talk.'

Well what do you know, evasive non-answers were a racial trait...

'And just like that, you'll let me go? I knew I sounded sceptical. He nodded.

'A man whose ambition could encompass the unshackling of time itself should understand, if he asks the right questions. Mimay only told you part of the legend, but then she spent so little time studying our past. Poor Alberich however delved far too deeply into such matters, which is why I had to use him.'

He hadn't even realised that I wasn't the original Harlock... That, or his arrogance didn't differentiate between us. Just as he didn't even care to stop me leaving, though I suspected Promethium might have argued that point. I contemplated just shooting him, but then, maybe he could just take over some other hapless soul, and mine was probably too close for comfort. Too many unknowns to risk it. Being me, however, I just couldn't let it go at that.

'What if I said I really don't care why you're doing whatever it is? That you are using people's fear of mortality and hardship against them to use them in your schemes... that you think it's okay to murder thousands if not millions of children to further them... that alone is enough for me to tell you to stuff any offer you might make up your tight blue arse, and crawl back into whatever hole you crept out of.' With that I turned on my heel and stormed away, rather wishing at that point that I'd got a nice big cloak to flick out with a suitably dramatic flourish.

I heard the telltale click of a safety coming off a pistol, and whirled back around, my own almost leaping into my hand, a useful trick I'd practiced. I stared down the barrel at him, but said nothing. I waited. Like a cat caught out and trying to maintain its dignity by washing a paw, he lowered his weapon and his mouth curled into a contemptuous slasher smile.

'Go then.' That melodic voice now loaded with disdain, and perhaps just a little nervousness. For once it was rather useful to have someone else's reputation go before me.

'I wasn't asking for your permission.' I backed away until I was in the doorway, then leapt for daylight and the headed for the crowded plaza a couple of hundred yards away, losing myself quickly in the crowd. Still no guards or soldiers, so I guessed they'd wanted to keep this low-key and off the books.

Unfortunately 'low key' didn't mean 'scot free'. A squad of blank faceplated fleet guards in the brown of the palace guard raced through the crowd towards my position, pushing people to the floor if they weren't quick enough to get out of their way. I swore under my breath as I broke into a run, heading for a less populated area. Fleet might have scant regard for civilians, but I wasn't so cavalier about collateral damage. In hindsight I really shouldn't have kept Loki or Promethium talking, because one or other had obviously had time to pass on my location. And although I was in pretty good shape, my damn leg was still bothering me. It didn't take me long to realise the lead guard was getting closer, and although I knew my way around the capital, there were far too many people around on the concourse to get a clean getaway, and I'd no desire for a firefight here.

I kept my eyes open for a way out, and eventually spotted a jutting buttress linking the pedestrian concourse to a higher vehicular level. Hover cars occasionally flitted above my head, it being a fairly quiet time of day. I made for the handrail and vaulted upwards, blessing the overly ornate design for a multitude of hand and foot holds, swinging easily up the metalwork. Compared to rock climbing this was a breeze and I quickly shinned up the fifty feet to the upper roadway. Somewhat more cautiously behind me, one of the guards had decided to try the same climb, though his form was lamentably poor. I considered making some encouraging remarks on his technique, but had to pull my head back and duck as one of his colleagues fired at me. Marksmanship standards in the academy were going down: he missed by six feet.

'Harlock!'

Professor Daiba's voice, shouting out of the window of a hovercar which was pulling to a stop close by. A door was opened, and I could see Kei at the controls, Hiroko and Tadashi crouched in the back. I leapt towards them and scooted through the door to land in an ungainly sprawl on the back seat, almost in the old man's lap. The car took off at a speed that probably violated several local ordinances, and Kei headed for the off-ramp that would lead down to the canyon floor.

Once clear of the citadel, I slithered over into the front passenger seat next to Kei. 'Great timing, but how the hell do we get out of this one?'

'The Arcadia's en route, should be overhead anytime now.'

I looked back to my aunt and her family. 'I'm sorry, professors. I should never have gotten you mixed up in my life.'

'I don't think you were the only target, my boy,' Hiroko answered. 'Kei got to us just in time. Several of those machine people and the citadel guard were busy going through Tsuyoushi's files, and had just decided to take us in. If not for her quick actions...' she broke off, and with some concern in her voice asked Kei if she was hurt.

'Just a scratch, it's nothing.' Knowing her, I took a closer look. Blood seeped through her shoulder, and down her left arm. 'No time to stop and change places, contacting Yattaran, he should be here by now.'

I didn't have to. Even inside the vehicle I could hear the rumble of the Arcadia's engines, and the red sky darkened to black as the Arcadia hovered overhead, then overtook us. 'Can you get any altitude in this thing?'

'We're about to find out. Hold on!' She angled the little vehicle on a trajectory that would have given its designer a heart attack, and aimed for the belly of the leviathan above us. The motors, not designed for this, gave an anguished squeal as we reached the hatch, and we came in a little too fast, screeching to a halt with inches to spare from the far bulkhead. She switched off and made safe the little car, turned to flash me a mildly triumphant smile, then without warning turned very pale and slumped forwards over the controls. I reached for her, my blood running cold, and pulling her upright realised it wasn't just her arm that had been hit.

Under her jacket her sweater was soaked red.


	11. Chapter 11

I couldn't have recounted the exact order of events that followed from realising Kei had been shot. I dimly remembered trying to get her seatbelt off, and pulling her from the hovercar. There was blood everywhere as I lowered her to the ground and tried desperately to stanch the bleeding. Someone - Carlos I think, was calling for a stretcher, but in the end he had to help me make a run for the infirmary, one carrying her, the other keeping pressure on the chest wound as best as he - or was it I - could.

The rest was a blur: Kei taken out of my arms by Doc, and someone - Ali? Ushering me out of the room. After that all I could do was stare blankly at the door, standing in the corridor, covered in her blood. Finally it was Mimay who guided me, unseeing, unhearing, back to my quarters. Mimay who tugged blood soaked clothes from me, and pushed me into the shower. Mimay who sat next to me, uncaring of the warm water soaking her, stroking my hair whilst I leaned against the wall, hands placed on it, my forehead pressed to the cool surface, and sank slowly to the floor, eventually leaning against her, my head on her shoulder.

Sometime after the point where warm water starts to feel a little chilly, she guided me out, still not having said a word. I was towelled off like a small child, then she sat me down on the edge of the bed and handed me a large tumbler. I don't even recall what was in it, just knocked it back and held it out for a refill, which was quietly obliged.

Even the bird was subdued, resting its head on my towel covered knee, making little chirping noises. I was halfway down the third tumbler before I could take a shuddering breath and get myself together enough to pull away slightly from Mimay's gentle embrace and try to stand.

She stopped me gently, but with more strength than I would have given her credit for. 'There's nothing you can do right now,' she said softly. 'Tochiro is monitoring the medical computer. Doc's still working on her. She's in good hands.'

'What the hell happened? I sent her back with the boy...'

'I spoke briefly with your uncle. He said one of the machinners turned on the boy when he ran to his parents, and shot at him. Kei ran between them, stopped the machinners, killed one of the guards, disabled the other. No-one realised she was hurt that badly until you landed. They had been about to kill the professors, not arrest them. If not for her...'

'I should be with her.'

She placed a pale blue hand on mine. 'You'd only be in the way, you know this.' She reached up and pushed a lock of wet hair out of my good eye. 'Concentrate on what you can do. The crew need you to be strong for them. They love her too, she's like a sister or a daughter to most of them, as well as a trusted officer.'

I looked at her somewhat blearily, unable to think of anything I ought to be saying. I'd heard many people talk about feeling numb in a crisis. I didn't feel numb; I felt as though someone was tearing my heart out by the roots and squeezing the life out of it in front of me. Not the hot frantic panic I'd felt all those years ago after the greenhouse explosion. Just a burning cold in my chest.

Mimay held out a pair of my trousers. 'Get dressed.' In the face of her alien implacability, I took my spare clothes from her. She had to help me with the zips, and I was so busy running nightmare scenarios through my head it never occurred to me to be embarrassed by being stark naked in front of her. She had just finished helping me in buckling on my gun belts when there was a discreet knock on the door.

'Enter,' Mimay called out before I could stop her. I wasn't in the mood for visitors. But Ali stood in the doorway, looking more than a little awkward.

'Sorry, captain, but he really wanted to see you.' He moved aside and a small dark haired tornado rushed towards me and clung to my legs, forcing me to sit back down again a little too rapidly for comfort. Then I had my small cousin in my lap, arms thrown around my neck and gulping a tearful babbling I slowly managed to make sense of.

'I didn't mean to get Kei hurt, honest. I'm sorry, Yama, I won't run again, I promise, if she gets well. She will get better, won't she?' Tearful brown eyes looked into mine, and he sniffed back a runny nose.

I hugged him close. 'Not your fault, Tadashi. Some bad men wanted to hurt all of you, there was nothing you could have done.' At some point I noticed the craven cowards had left the room leaving me alone with a crying six year old. But it helped. In comforting him and reassuring his fears, my own receded slightly, at least enough for me to function. I found a handkerchief in a drawer and managed to wipe tearful eyes and runny nose, before lowering him to the ground and taking his hand. 'Shall we go and see if there's any news? I think I could do with the company, if you're up for it?'

This got me an earnest little nod, and with Tadashi trotting at foot, I headed for the infirmary.

Doc was just leaving the room as I arrived. 'Good timing, I was just about to give you a call.'

Her relaxed tone gave me some hope. 'Kei- is she?'

She patted me on the arm. 'Relax, loverboy. She's fine. Sleepy, but fine. Lost a bit of blood, but the shot missed anything vital. That, and the way this ship tends to look after you and your crew...' she shook her head in puzzlement. 'I could probably write a paper on dark matter contamination. Damn stuff seems to have a mind of its own.' She gave me another reassuring pat. 'You can go in, but no hanky panky and let her rest. Me, I need a large scotch...' With that she bustled off, though not, I noticed, as energetically as she usually did.

But the door was open, and giving Tadashi's hand a squeeze, I looked down at him. 'Want to say hi?'

Kei was lying on her back, propped up on a couple of pillows. Her left arm and shoulder were bandaged, and although a sheet covered her, I could see the edge of the bandage around her chest. She looked pale, but she was awake, and her eyes lit up as she saw me. She extended her right hand, and I sat next to her, placing my own over it. Tadashi slithered onto the bed next to her, asking in a childish contralto if she was all right, and falling over himself to say sorry. She took her good hand out of mine with a rueful smile of apology to me, and allowed him to cuddle up to her, as the tears flowed again. Over that dark head she smiled at me.

'Sorry if I gave you a bad turn there. Doc said she thought for a while you looked worse than I did.'

'She's exaggerating, but I think I'll survive.' There was so much I wanted to say, but as in the conservatory earlier, the words just wouldn't come.

She tapped my tearful cousin on the arm. 'Tadashi, everything's going to be okay, I promise. Do you think you could give us some alone time though? Your parents probably want to make sure you don't get lost on the ship.'

I eventually managed to separate them, and found a willing lurker outside in the corridor - Sabu - to find the professors. With a sigh of relief I finally got to sit next to her without an interloper. She reached up and gently brushed her hand down my cheek. It came away damp. 'Doc's right. You do look as though you've seen a ghost.' she teased. I raised her hand to my lips and kissed it softly.

'Is this what I put you through when I pull one of those stunts that almost gets me killed?' I asked.

'Not so much fun on the receiving end, is it?' She winced. 'I'd laugh at you but it hurts too damn much.' The effort of talking though was obviously tiring her, and her eyes fluttered shut eventually, her breathing deepening. Not wanting to disturb her too much, I sat quietly at her side, just holding her hand and watching her sleep. The ship was in Imaginary number space, so there was little for me to do, and I never tired of watching her. Sleeping, all the little lines of care and tension left her, and Kei-the-pirate was replaced by a girl I could have met anywhere. Someone who hadn't needed to struggle, or fight, or be constantly on guard. The girl who loved roses, and lemon tea, and had no problems dealing with hyperactive small children.

Doc slipped quietly into the room at some point, and after silently checking her patient, suggested politely that I find someplace else to be. Reluctantly I obeyed, but not before brushing a few stray hairs off Kei's face, and bending over to kiss her lightly on the forehead.

'Just so you know, ' I whispered, 'I do love you.'

She murmured sleepily and a single bright blue eye opened and looked up at me. 'You do know you don't get any take-backs on that?'

'Faker,' I accused softly. She smiled and closed her eyes again.

'I've always known you do, you idiot. You're just terrible at spitting anything out,' she muttered sleepily. 'Just never thought it'd take getting shot to get you to finally admit it out loud.'

Doc sighed. 'If he tries to wriggle out of that later claiming a momentary lapse of reason, I'll hold him down while you beat a confession out of him.' Kei, still with her eyes closed, smiled at that. 'For now, and with all due respect, captain, take your cute, firm ass out of my infirmary, and leave my patient alone for a bit. I'll send for you when she's a little more awake.'

'Yes ma'am!' I backed out of the room reluctantly, which ended with the door very firmly shut in my face. Not wanting to head back to my quarters just yet, my feet instead turned towards the central computer room. I needed company.

Mimay was in her customary position in the hanging cables, lounging silently like a housecat, her head resting in her arms. Though she didn't so much as open her eyes, I knew she felt my presence. She swayed slightly in her perch as though moving to music only she could hear.

I took Harlock's old position, sitting in front of the whirling circle of red light on the front of the massive computers. There was always such a sense of peace in this place that I found my steps drawn there more and more often in the past few weeks. Though my relationship with the crew had improved from wary regard to an easy camaraderie, with the exception of Kei, and to a lesser extent Yattaran, true friendship was necessarily elusive. We weren't a military crew, with the attendant requirement for obedience precluding intimacy, but there was a necessary divide between a captain and those under his command. Even so, I didn't even think of attempting Harlock's stoic detachment from the men - or women- around him. They'd have laughed me out of town for trying a stunt like that. But outside of the bridge in any downtime, if I walked into a room conversations would fall silent briefly. It served as a reminder that I would never go back to being 'one of the lads'.

'Command's a lonely business, Harlock always said.'

Tochiro's hologram materialised at my side and 'sat' next to me. 'One reason I was never officially part of the command structure of the Arcadia. Meant we could just be ourselves and not worry about pesky things like orders getting in the way.' He sighed. 'Don't worry about Kei. The medical computers say she's fine. A few days and she'll be giving you hell for fussing over her.'

'It's not that so much...' I trailed off. I told him what had happened. 'I could so easily lose her. What's worse is I could be the one to order her to do something that could put her in danger again. She's not just a member of this crew, she's the battle commander. If I tried to hold her back she'd end up hating me, but if I don't...'

'Ah. Is that all? She knows the risks, just like you. Nothing in life is certain, except death. What matters is what you do with the time you have. Would you prefer not to love her?' My face must have been answer enough. An intangible hand patted my sleeve. 'Thought not. It hurts like hell to lose the people you love, but you can't let that stop you from caring. Harlock tried it. Prat. Love the guy to pieces, but sometimes feel like taking a wrench to his thick head.' He sighed. 'You remind me a lot of how he used to be, before the war, though you're a bit more serious. I guess that's down to the baggage you were already carrying when you came on board. His came a bit later in life.' He stood up. 'If you're beating yourself up over getting Kei hurt, just ask yourself this: what would have happened to your aunt, uncle and that sweet little boy of theirs if you hadn't gone to Mars when you did, eh? Those guys weren't there for you, they were after your uncle's research. Why else would that body stealing son of a bitch be hanging around to conveniently delay you after you had put Promethium's lights out? Kei was able to save them because you made a boneheaded decision.'

'You have a strange way of giving a motivational speech, do you know that?'

He laughed. 'Practice. Decades of practice hanging round a moody bastard with a terminal guilt complex. You work with what you've got, and being nice never usually got through.'

I smiled, and found myself laughing with him. 'Hence the wrench?'

'As you say. Actually we did get into it pretty hard one time. Silly bugger counted on his size to put me down. Kind of slipped his mind that when you're five something, tubby and wear glasses, you learn to fight dirty... though I did feel bad about it later.'

'Only because you actually concussed him,' Mimay added from her perch. She smiled down at us both, but that was the moment the entire ship shuddered from bow to stern, and with a complete loss of her catlike grace, she tumbled off her little nest. I only just caught her before she hit the deck.

'Did something just shoot us?' I asked. Tochiro's hologram faded from view, and the central computer core lit up like a fairground. 'We are still IN-SKIP?' It was supposed to be impossible for any ship to attack in sub-space. My commlink chimed. 'Harlock.'

'Oy - captain - you might want to get up here. Some bastard's taking pot shots at us!'

Yattaran sounded more peeved than anything. I Looked at Mimay, still lying in my arms.

'Anything you might like to share about what kind of ship can attack whilst we're in IN-SKIP?' I asked. I set her down gently.

'Only one,' she replied. 'And their kind vanished over a century ago.'

I took off at a run for the bridge.

Yattaran yielded the helm as I ran towards him, scooting back over to his own station with remarkable agility for his bulk. Ali, in Kei's absence, had her position. 'Do we have any readings on what the hell is taking shots at us yet?' As if on cue, another blast rocked the Arcadia.

'They're aiming for the engines. Bastards are trying to cripple us,' Yattaran called out. 'Ali - do you need someone to help you with the big words in the help manual?'

'Fuck you, you fat bastard!' There was no heat in their banter though. Ali however was frowning as he looked at the readouts. I kept a hand on the wheel, feeling the ship steady under my touch. 'Readings are bloody weird. Can't get a proper lock on. Though for a moment I thought I'd picked up our own echo...'

Mimay's heels clicked across the gantry, as she took up her position behind the captain's chair, her hands I already knew would be caressing the incandescent lightning filled globe that she used to control the dark matter engine. 'Had a feeling it might be something like that,' I muttered. 'Ali - can you put any visual up on the main screen?'

'I can try. Resolution's shit out there.' Another blast, but without a clear target, there was nothing yet to fire back at. 'Okay, best I can do...'

The ship that filled the screen was like nothing I'd ever seen. Truthfully, I couldn't get a good look at it, because the damned thing was wreathed in a similar substance to our own dark matter cloud. But where the Arcadia's dark matter was a cloud surrounding the ship, constantly in chaotic flux, this was - 'controlled' was the best description I could come up with. A ribbon of dark matter wound around an unknown central mass, spherical, and massive. The readings Ali passed on suggested this thing was almost twice our mass. That dark matter ribbon undulated and rippled continuously, forming a barrier around the ship which looked like someone had peeled an apple and put it back around the fruit, only stretching it out so that it left tantalising gaps, brief glimpses of what lay behind. Periodically a mass was ejected in a single, controlled burst in our direction, but having our opponent confirmed, the central computer was able to take evasive measures.

'All turrets, fire at will. Main battery, target the gaps in the dark matter, aim for the centre of that thing!' I had to make a swift correction, bringing the Arcadia round in a tight turn, trying to get above the dark matter ship, but the damned thing was almost as fast as we were. 'Mimay? Enlighten us?'

She ghosted to my side. 'It's the Phantasm. It was my brother's command.'

'Eh?' Yattaran spluttered. 'That's a Nibelung battleship?'

'Fuck me...' Ali breathed, awed. 'How the hell do we take it down? So far our guns aren't touching it.'

Which was a problem. I wanted it crippled before we made a break for it. 'Mimay - is there anything we have that can take her down? Tochiro?'

'Only the dark matter ejection antennae,' came Tochiro's voice weakly over the speakers. I guessed it was taking most of his attention keeping us in one piece. 'Mimay? Over to you.'

She looked at me to confirm the order, and I nodded. With that she ran for the dark matter engine and began whatever esoteric process she needed to perform. From Yattaran's console, a visual was brought up on his holographic display. The overarching spokes that curved elegantly over the Arcadia's spine reared up, and began to open, revealing a twisted structure in each not unlike a strand of DNA. Partly in tune as I was with the ship I felt the dark matter begin to build. It was like a pressure building in my head and chest, until I felt as though I was about to explode. In the hologram, the cloud surrounding us began to coalesce around the two radiating antennae arrays.

'Tochiro, a little guidance?' I whispered. He laughed over my personal link.

'Ah. Sorry, sorry. Mimay, let her rip!'

I felt the release as it left the ship and arced towards the Phantasm. The black mass hit her dead centre, and she reeled. Not waiting to check her status, I ordered another full volley from all guns, then span the wheel as hard as I could yelling at Mimay to give it everything we had, then drop us hard into real space. As the stars reappeared around us, I held onto the wheel for dear life, feeling utterly drained.

We'd taken a fair bit of damage in the attack, and looking at the monitors of the exterior skin of the ship with Yattaran and Maji, it appeared the auto-repair was stretched a little thin. The engine pods were functional, but the ship's armour was healing much more slowly than I liked to see.

'Must be the dark matter weapon they used, ' Maji offered. He pulled his bandana off his head and ran his fingers through short black hair. 'Figures the Nibelung would have a weapon capable of taking on their own kind of ship.'

'Are we flight capable?' I waited as my two top engineers conferred over the readings. Eventually Yattaran nodded.

'We actually came out pretty close to Tabito, so we might as well carry on in real space and meet up with Selen's people there. As long as we don't put too much strain on the hull we'll be fine. The auto-repair can handle it, it just needs more time than usual.'

'First time since the war we've had to face anything that could inflict that kind of damage,' Tochiro's hologram offered. 'Should have thought of that, my bad, guys. I'll go over the readings and see what we can do to mitigate it next time.'

There wasn't much I could offer, since this threesome comprised some of the best talent in the entirety of human space in their fields. 'I'll leave it to the experts. Just keep me posted.' I got a vague wave of acknowledgement from Maji, as the three engineers had their heads together already over a monitor. Feeling a bit like a fifth wheel, I headed for the infirmary.

Kei was awake when I arrived, surrounded by my family. Though the relationship wasn't a close one in terms of blood, I found I felt more at home around the older professors and their son than I had since I was in my teens with my own brother. Professor Daiba moved over to give me room to sit on the bed next to Kei, who although still pale, looked a lot better than she had earlier.

'Sorry for the turbulence earlier. An unplanned scuffle.' Kei gave me a hard stare but said nothing. Tadashi sat on her other side, on his best behaviour, thankfully. He was shoving a flimsy sheet under her nose and babbling happily.

'It's your name, in Japanese. Papa taught me how to write it. It means 'firefly' so I drew some for you. Mom found a picture for me to copy.'

I peered over to take a look. Sure enough, in a wobbly but recognisable hand, the character 'kei' (蛍 )written large, surrounded by several insects of indeterminate origin. Their bright yellow bottoms had yellow lines shooting out of them just in case the viewer missed the point.

Kei hugged him with her good arm. 'It's lovely, Tadashi. Thank you.' I could have sworn he practically wriggled like a puppy.

'Do I get the feeling I've got some serious competition?' I asked. 'You and I need a talk, young man!' He giggled.

Hiroko laughed. 'Maybe I can help with that, my boy.' She held up a large expensive shopping bag, reached in to pull a neatly wrapped parcel out of it, and handed it to me. 'That little matter we discussed last night? I decided to stop off before joining Tsuyoushi at the office.' She patted me on the arm, and picked up her offspring. 'We'll leave you in peace. I'll get the rest to you later.'

'Rest?' I only remembered asking for one small favour, and that bag looked full... The professor laid a hand on my shoulder as he left.

'If I were you, I'd just take the credit later, my lad. I find it's easier that way.' He walked out chuckling, and I finally had Kei to myself. Not for long, I judged, as she tried to bite back a yawn.

'Little matter?' Her tone was teasing, but her eyes were fixed on the parcel in my hands with the same intent stare she could send down the barrel of her gun. I handed it over.

'Present. I had a little word with my aunt... with all the excitement...' She just stared at the tissue paper wrapping, and I began to feel a little nervous. 'Kei? It's customary to start ripping the wrapping off...'

She ran her hands over it, and instead began unwrapping it with almost surgical delicacy. 'I've never had a present before.' I almost missed the slight tremor in her voice. I'd had a pretty good idea she had little enough of her own: she'd moved in with me with only a handful of flightsuits, gloves, boots and underwear. Like most of the crew she had free access to the assorted stores built up from various larcenous activities for everyday wear, and resident armourer Maji for more technical items.

I was struggling to hoĺd back a smile as she carefully folded the tissue paper in a neat square, and held up the sweater I'd talked my aunt into finding. 'It's so soft...'

I found myself grinning like a lunatic as she rubbed her cheek against the sky blue cashmere. 'Maybe I should have got you a kitten... want me to put it away for you?' I reached out for it and had to let out a laugh as she slapped my hand away.

'Oh no you don't.' I sat down on the bed next to her. 'Thank you,' she said brightly.

'Can't take all the credit. Had to leave the details to Aunt Hiroko. Judging by the size of that bag though, I think she might have gone a little overboard on the original specifications of the mission.' I leaned forward to give her a kiss but a loud throat-clearing behind me warned me not to complete the manoeuvre.

'Don't you have a ship to run, captain?' Doc had her hands thrust into her pockets, and I knew better than to mess when she had that look.

'It doesn't really need me...' Her foot started to tap. 'Okay, okay, I surrender.' For the second time that day, I had to make a strategic retreat from my own infirmary.

There was little enough I could do to keep me occupied whilst we were in transit. The ship was mostly autonomous, and what the central computer didn't cover, a well-trained crew did. In the end, I headed for the refectory, and let Anita ply me with something I didn't even notice eating. But she kept up an easy, friendly heckling, making me eat up. Zack, who'd refused to stay behind on Destiny with Selen's group, pestered me with questions about the battle.

Eventually between my new cook's friendly chatter and her son's eager questions about the ship, I did at least feel I could make my way back to my empty quarters for a much needed sleep.

I lay on top of the bed, not even bothering to take my boots off. I was still firing on all cylinders, and couldn't stop running events through my head. So much had happened in the last few months; at times I felt I was on wild ride I couldn't get off. Over and over and over, places, names, faces... only when I began to finally doze off did something pop into my head, and the connection was... an odd one.

Tochiro's description of the strange curving prongs that arched over the spine of the Arcadia, and apparently had something to do with dark matter manipulation on a large scale. A tower on Lar Metal with a two-faced woman's head on it, overlooking the city... but pointing to the sky... An antenna... with a power source buried at its base.

I leaned over and hit the control to turn the light up in the room, then fumbled for the comms. I needed a long talk with the two people who could tell me something about dark matter and what it could do. And with an archaeologist who a member of a long vanished race wanted dead and buried, along with his research.

If I was right, some answers might finally be within reach.


	12. Chapter 12

Tabito turned out to be a pleasant surprise. For once, although terraforming hadn't quite managed to replicate old Earth, the planet did boast a mild climate and some areas of greenery, around the main town. Only one continent had been colonised, before the corporation funding a mining operation realised that the mineral resources of the plant were not economical enough to be worth extracting on an industrial scale. The remaining population however made a nice enough living trading with nearby worlds on a smaller scale, and the result was a close-knit, friendly community largely self-sufficient. In comparison to most colony worlds this far out, it was a success story.

But with a planetary population numbering in the tens of thousands at most, it wasn't a complete success. However this small population welcomed the Arcadia with open arms because of some long-ago help from Harlock that even Yattaran hadn't been there for, so for us it was a welcome paradise.

* * *

There was a flat, uncultivated plain just outside of town big enough to land the Arcadia, already populated by a smaller, black and white craft of unknown origin. This was Selen's old warship, the Futatsuboshi, the name of which translated to 'two stars', which was so damn lame everyone just left it as was. The aforementioned stars were emblazoned on her sides, along with a crescent moon. Zero had informed me that the ship had been one of a small fleet - hence the numerical designation. She was a neat little vessel, about a fifth our length, but crewed by about three times the number of hands as the Arcadia. Sort of whale shaped was my impression, her paint job being similar to the colouring of the long vanished orca of Eath's oceans; slightly humped in the middle section, flattening off at both bow and stern. For her size at least she was well armed. Eight optical cannon bristled from her sides.

I couldn't resist as we strolled past it on our way into town. 'It's adorable. What does it want to be when it grows up ?' Selen just ignored me, but Zero's stare from behind those dark glasses promised retribution when we sparred next. Kei slapped my arm with her good hand. The other arm was in a sling.

'How do you ever hope to keep friends?' She shook her head and sighed theatrically. 'Honestly, you really can be a dick at times.'

Zero smirked. 'It's fine Kei. I'll just flatten him a couple of times and he can apologise. Besides, at least I'm not compensating for something with that oversized, over-armed beast he's got.'

'Inherited,' I smirked back. 'If anyone was over compensating for something with all those cannon, it wasn't me.' Kei hit me again. 'Ow, what was that one for?' I rubbed my arm and glared at her. 'You're feeling better if you can start hitting again.'

'About those friends... you do remember Tochiro's listening in?' She smiled sweetly, and dodged out of the way as I made a grab. A loud cough brought me up short, as Doc wandered into view.

'I thought I told you to keep your hands to yourself for a few more days? She's still recovering.' Doc snapped at me. I pointed helplessly at Kei.

'She started it!'

Doc glared at me. 'And you're supposed to be the captain, which makes you the responsible one. Act it occasionally. '

She stormed off and I glared at a smirking Kei. 'You're just loving this,' I accused. Zero sniggered.

'Still being Doc-blocked are you?' He grinned.

I rolled my eye at him. 'Seriously, did you work on that one all night?'

Kei took my arm and gave me a peck on the cheek. 'I thought it was funny. And you are a bit crankier than usual.' She pointed to the town. 'But if you two plan on throwing down and going all macho in defence of your honour, you might want to do it before we reach town. You don't want to set a bad example to the children.'

That was my cue for more eye-rolling 'Bad example? When one of them is that blood-thirsty little red-haired hellcat of Selen's?'

'Inherited,' she shot back with a smile. I raised an imaginary glass to her for turning that one back on me. She turned to Kei. 'But what were you thinking, stopping them from going for it? It's always a good show once the shirts come off.'

I stopped and stared at her. 'Seriously? Since when do you start playing to the peanut gallery?' I turned to Zero, who was looking decidedly shifty, not that that was anything unusual for a guy who habitually wore shades even at night. 'So, we land rather than ship down, walk rather than grab a transport, all because you two said want to look at the scenery? I don't buy it. What are you two hiding?'

They shared a mutually guilty glance. I waited. I would have folded my arms but I still had Kei wrapped around one of them. So I took a leaf out of Doc's book, and tapped my foot. Finally Zero cleared his throat. 'We were kind of hoping we could get you settled before we had to show you...'

'Show me what?' From the hedging, I could guarantee I wasn't going to like it, whatever it was.

'Not what. Who.' Selen fidgeted with her shoulder holster, a sure sign she was uncomfortable. 'Maybe we should leave this until you've eaten at least.'

'How about not?' I waved my free hand towards town. 'Rather like ripping a sticking bandage off a wound, I tend to find nasty surprises are best dealt with quickly.'

Yet they still hesitated, and it was Kei, not me, who Selen addressed next. 'I just want your assurance that you'll hold off on shooting him until after you've heard him out.'

Kei looked puzzled, but I had a feeling I knew where this was heading. My back still had the scars. 'Hagan?' I asked. Kei's fingers dug into my arm even through my newly-cleaned jacket.

'Yamori.' Zero corrected. 'Yamori Daisuke, and trust me, if that nibelung inside him rears its head again, I'll put him down myself. But you do need to hear him out.'

'Can't wait,' Kei said with a brittle gaity. I winced inwardly. I wanted a piece of the bastard myself, but she had taken it a little personally when she'd seen the extent of my injuries. And honestly - I didn't plan on getting between Kei and her payback. I'd do the same to anyone who hurt her.

With the mood somewhat dampened, we walked the rest of the way into town in silence.

* * *

I strong-armed Zero into letting me see Hagan - Yamori - before the main event. They'd stashed him in the local gaol with the agreement of a portly local lawman who looked as though the most action he'd had in years was in tracking down a good breakfast. So this time I was on the right side of the cell looking in on the young man who'd thrashed the hell out of my back a few months ago.

Though not quite so young as I'd thought at the time. Although we looked about the same age, he was probably closer to forty than twenty-five, given that Lar Metal's elite had messed around with their genetic heritage centuries ago, extending their youth, though not, I had been told, their lifespans; time tended to catch up with them all at once, and when it did, it hit hard. Seemed like a poor trade off to me, not knowing when your genetic timebomb would explode. Some, like Selen, at over sixty, could pass for thirty, and she could expect to reach ninety and look no different, based on her family history. Others, she'd said, could cash out at fifty and change.

He sat on the bed at the back of the cell, and looked at me with a worried frown from under a shock of sandy hair. 'Do I know you?'

I turned to Zero. 'Is he for real?'

He shrugged. 'Seems to be. So far he doesn't seem to show any signs of possession, or to have been responsible anything after he was arrested with us.'

'Because I wasn't. Rei, how many times do we have to over over this? They strapped me into a chair and forced that mask onto me. After that, it's aĺl a blur until I was rolling around on the floor after one of the princesses shot me. I was a prisoner in my own head.' He stood up and walked to the bars. 'I do remember you now...' He grasped the bars and looked into my face. 'Oh crap, you're the guy..,'

'You whipped. Repeatedly.' I said flatly. He flinched, and that shock of hair fell back from his face, to reveal his cheek to be a terrible, melted scar. It hadn't obliterated his eye, but it had come damn close, and the damage was all the worse I guessed, because he had been a handsome young man before. I almost felt sorry for him, and it must have showed on my face because he pulled away

'I don't want your pity,' he ground out, with a snarl that distorted the still pretty profile. Some people could get mad without looking like an idiot who'd bitten into a rice cone topped with natto. Yamori wasn't one of them. He turned his back on us. Even though he couldn't see me I shrugged anyway.

'No problem. I can do contempt.' I turned my attention back to Zero. 'So why exactly are you keeping him around? You can't trust that Hagan won't make a reappearance, can you?'

'Which is why he's behind bars for now. Well, that and the suggestion that you and Kei or one of the girls might take his actions a little personally - albeit with justification. He's a little safer in there for now, until we've properly debriefed him about his time in the inner circle.'

Yamori turned back to face us. 'I'll tell you anything you need to know, Rei. You know that. I loved Yayoi long before she became what she is now. I'd do anything to save her.'

Loyalty? I somehow doubted it. He had the intense look of a man in love with something out of his reach, when he said her name. 'If she's beyond saving?' I asked. 'I met her clone puppet recently. I'm not so sure there's anything left.'

He grabbed the bars of the dell in both hands as though trying to pry them apart. 'There has to be. It can't end like this. Rei?'

Zero shook his head, sadly. 'Yamori, Harlock might be right. She walked right into this one willingly enough. She always believed the ends justified the means, even before this. The seeds were sown a long time ago. That was always where you and I differed as well as Selen and her sister. If Ban were here...' he sighed. 'You know, I have to wonder, given your history, if you put up much of a fight against killing him.'

At the younger man's sudden flush, I figured Zero had hit a nerve there. A long standing crush? unrequited love? If that were indeed the case, than maybe Yamori couldn't be trusted anymore than the monster in his head, when it came to his queen. But we had other considerations first, and took our leave. I found it hard to trust the guy, but maybe, just maybe, he could redeem himself, if he wanted to. Second chances don't come often, and I'd not deny anyone who truly wanted to turn their life around.

If he turned around and screwed me over again, however, I'd end the little bastard without a second's hesitation.

* * *

Most of our little cabal had assembled in the local raman shop, a tumbledown building down one of the back streets. It had been abandoned for some time, but the place was cosy, and big enough for the interested parties to sit around the tables once they were put together in the middle of the room. Kei had even co-opted Anita to rustle up something, and she 'd left several steaming pans on warmers for everyone to help themselves, before bustling back to the ship. Thankfully we got there before Yattaran and other large appetites finished the lot, though it was a close thing.

Kei, Yattaran, Maji, Mimay, Doc and Levary plus the Professors Daiba made up my complement. Selen and Zero had the two princesses in tow, pale Maetel still quiet, but her protective reserve seemed to be crumbling at the edges, as my human bombshell of a cousin wasn't taking silence for an answer and eventually persuaded her into joining him, Zack and a few local children of varying ages outside in a game involving a ball, a lot of running around, and yelling. All of which resident hellcat Emeraldas ignored, sitting with the adults with a permanent glower at the world, arms folded on her chest. Ali and Carlos had been deputised to collect and sit on Yamori, though whether to stop him escaping or to prevent three very pissed off young women from tearing him a new one was still up in the air. Thankfully although Emeraldas still carried the knife I'd given her, she settled for just glaring at the prisoner, which did cause him to stumble a little over his story as we questioned him.

Zero had found him on one of the marginal colonies the Lar Metal harvest ships had targeted. Like Selen and Zero, he'd apparently stowed away on board to make a break for it. Injured and starving, they'd found him in an abandoned house in a town deserted and dead.

'This mind inside you,' Mimay leaned forwards, staring deeply into his eyes until he turned away, looking deeply discomfited. 'How do you keep it at bay? Can it be kept suppressed?' I heard the note of hope in her voice, and wondered how long she must have mourned the loss of her brother.

He hesitated, and didn't meet her eyes. 'I don't know. I'm a soldier, not a medic. Selen suggested the pain or shock might keep him down, but for how long, I don't know. I do know I'd rather die than go back to living like that. You have no idea what it's like, day after day watching through your own eyes, unable to speak, or move. I couldn't warn my queen, no matter how hard I tried.' He faced Selen, and looked her in the eyes. 'I truly did, Selen. But he was so strong, and he enjoys my pain as much as those he hurts. He and the one called Loki, they took so much delight in the damage they were causing. She truly believes this is the best way to save us. Even after that broadcast about Earth, she said it was too little, too late. It will take centuries, if not millennia for Earth to recover, and human populations on all but a handful of planets are too low for recovery, even if they could get the terraforming machines working with the new parameters. Loki and Hagan fed on that, twisting the reports until she felt that mechanisation was the only answer within our lifetimes.'

Truth, some of it. But not all. I shared a quick look with Kei, and she was biting her bottom lip, quite obviously not buying it. 'Quick fixes rarely work,' I interjected. 'But I can understand her despair, at least. I think we all can. It wasn't that long ago we bought into a similar argument.' Kei bowed her head sadly, Yattaran looked away, as if in shame. 'Except there's more here at work than just a desperate, misguided attempt to save humanity, isn't there?'

He nodded. 'I can't read his thoughts, so I only know what little they spoke about to each other, but there was something they wanted. They've spent decades manipulating our society. I gather it started even before the Homecoming War, but they were forced to go into hiding. The Nibelung were in a similar position to humanity. Falling birth rates, a dying planet... they had a plan, to use Lar Metal's population to host their best minds, but then when Harlock and Mimay unleashed the dark matter on Earth, Loki had another idea. The trouble is, a lot of conversation was conducted in their language, and I don't understand it.'

Oh. He was a shifty little weasel... lies hidden in truth, but I just couldn't pinpoint which was which. 'Professor?' I asked. With a tug at his moustache, Professor Daiba stood up.

'If you can give me a hand, my boy?'

I regarded the holographic suite in the centre of the table with some trepidation. Technology -not my strongest subject. Botany, yes. Reasonably quick with languages, and an adrenaline junkie addicted to free climbing and base jumping. Wires and software? Not so much.

'It won't bite you,' Kei laughed. Her arm still in the sling and comfortably lounging in a chair, she pointed. 'Just push the button.'

'Or you could make sure it's connected, first,' my first mate rumbled. I was pushed unceremoniously out of the way and the big man got to work with much put-upon muttering. 'Why does no-one ever call in a professional before things get snarly?'

'Probably because your usual response is to say you're busy and cut the connection,' Kei said with mock sweetness. His reply was inaudible, but sounded pithy. With a triumphant wave of a hand, the unit came to life, finally displaying a 3d rendering of an ancient, plant covered ruin pictured against a grey sky with thick tendrils of mist swirling over it. Professor Daiba harrumphed at us, and like a bunch of schoolkids, we sat to attention. Mimay stepped out of the shadows behind me, and walked around the table.

'This was the Hall of Records,' she said softly. 'But this area was in the heart of the main city. Even after so many years, it shouldn't be this overgrown.'

'Whatever triggered the dark matter explosion here seems to have accelerated plant growth to a considerable extent. The entire planet is covered in gigantic plant forms. Hiroko and her team spent weeks in the jungles that have covered the cities.' A series of pictures followed, and I walked around the display, taking in the detail. Gigantic was right; some of the plants were several metres in diameter, and the trees looked as though they touched the sky. I'd never seen such an explosion of growth, and it was in stark contrast to the barren, hellish wasteland that Earth had become.

'Are those lichens?' I stared at the ruins draped in trailing liana-like tendrils, partially buried by mats of mossy growth the size of which I'd never seen before. The sheer scale of growth here was supposedly impossible. I zoomed in on the detail of the structures, entranced by the titanic scale. Algal mats, giant lichens, towering trees of mossy growths that should not have been possible in a gravity well. It was a truly alien environment. Compared to the handful of barren planets I'd seen in my admittedly narrow experience to date, it was mesmerising.

A polite cough brought me back to reality with a bump, and I grinned sheepishly, handing the control back to my aunt. 'Sorry, distracted.'

'Just like your mother,' Hiroko laughed. She patted my arm. 'Talk to me later. There's plenty more to see.'

Doc folded her arms across her chest. 'It's certainly interesting. But this wasn't the reason we agreed to look over this data, as I recall?' She smiled at the professor. 'Maybe we should take a look at the other item of interest?'

He tugged on a bushy moustache and asked my aunt to bring up the next set of images. 'These were the carvings we found on the walls inside the hall. Beautifully preserved, they seem to predate the buildings by several thousand years at least.'

Mimay bowed her head in sorrow. 'Alberich, my brother, and his team had uncovered an underground complex they believed to be the remnants of our first city on Niflheim. Some of the evidence suggested we hadn't evolved on this world, but our origins were lost in the mists of time. Our civilisation was hundreds of thousands of years old when humans were still ape-men wandering the savannah of Africa.'

'Not that anyone's bragging,' I heard Ali mutter under his breath.

As if she hadn't heard, she continued. 'It turned out that these ruins predated our oldest city by aons. No-one had seen anything like them. But there were concerns other than history, and like your scientists and rulers ours turned their attention to matters of survival. These murals were put on display but otherwise ignored, except by my brother. He felt they held some deep secret, and he refused to give up his studies. Even during his years of service on the Phantasm. He took the ship and his crew on long journeys, exploring long dead worlds.' She paused.

'This was about the same time we first encountered Harlock and Tochiro.' She inclined her head gracefully towards the hologram of her old friend, fainter than usual but then we were running this second lash-up on batteries, and he waved cheerily back from his position near the kitchen. 'Tochiro tried to help my people, but to no avail. In gratitude, we shared our dark matter technology with him. The rest, you know.'

'Not, quite,' I pointed out. 'I don't recall anyone saying what happened to the rest of your people. My brother told me there was one nibelung for each of the Deathshadow class ships, but nowhere do I remember hearing anyone say what happened to the rest. Surely there were more than four of you left? Otherwise any help would surely be too little, too late.'

'It would have been,' Tochiro answered for her. 'The truth is, we don't know. With the war on, getting back there wasn't really an option, and afterwards... well. It was a long time before we got our act together, and then Harlock came up with his plan...' He looked embarrassed.

'None of you could face going back and confessing to the fact that you'd taken all that advanced knowledge and blown up a planet?' This from Levary, who didn't bother to hide his disgust. The crusty old commander had little time for either side of the recent events that had left him preferring to join us than return to a government which had so cavalierly thrown his men to the wolves. Mimay and Tochiro both kept quiet. Amazing how chagrined a hologram and an alien could look when someone pointed out their failings.

'I don't suppose you know what these carvings say, or are showing?' I asked.

Mimay walked around the picture of the largest mural. There was a strange kind of writing on it - angular, incised letters. Since the start of each line appeared to be right justified, I took a guess that it was read from right to left. It also looked horizontal, not vertical. I did recognise a couple of letters though. 'That's Ægishjálmr - the 'countenance of terror'' I pointed to one symbol, rather like a wheel of eight pitchforks arranged to radiate out from a smaller circle in the centre, each 'fork' having three horizontal lines through it. 'It also means 'invincibility', if I remember correctly?' I looked to the professor for confirmation. He nodded, but there was a slight cough from the other side of the table where Yamori sat, an annoyingly smug smirk lurking under his long, thin, weaselly nose.

The professor laughed. 'You've a good memory. I haven't told you that story since you were about Tadashi's age.'

'It was a pretty good story, as I recall,' I smiled, remembering. 'Nami use to play the part of the sleeping valkerie hidden behind the flames, but Isora would always try and make me be the dragon to his hero when he was around. Spent an entire school holiday once pretending to kill me...' Yeah. Maybe not so good a memory after all, and in hindsight oddly prophetic, given how things had turned out...

He smiled back, but sympathetically. I should have known he'd catch the nuances. Great practical psychologist as well as an anthropologist... 'I suppose I should have known only the exciting stories would hold children's attention. But that symbol can have many meanings.' At the baffled faces around the table he launched into an explanation. 'It's an old norse rune, from over two thousand years ago on Earth. It's one of several linked to the old norse myths. Often mistranslated as referring to a helmet of invisibility, but in fact referred to a kind of battle magic designed to confuse one's enemies. A kind of illusion, of sorts. It could be passive, hypnotic, or actively aggressive, in producing a kind of blind terror in the subjects. Some of these other markings are also nordic runes, but others are quite unfamiliar. It seems logical given the age of this piece that the nibelung had contact with our ancestors at some point, but recognising the runes gives us no idea of the language used here. In fact, there are so many additional symbols that I began to suspect the written language was idiomatic, not phonetic.' He looked over to Mimay. 'Would I be right, my dear?'

Again she gracefully inclined her head. 'As you say. The language is an old one however, and I was not a linguist or historian.' She lefted a guaze-draped arm to the hologram, her fingers leaving a pattern of disrupted light in their wake. 'It's part of an old children's story, telling of a great battle, and a gate of light, beyond which the greatest darkness was sealed long ago. A darkness that can exist without light, that existed long before there was light, and life. We were told this as children, a fable to remind us that there should always be a balance between the two, without which there is only nothingness, The ultimate cypher.' She pulled her hand away. 'This apears to be a much older version, and only a part of a greater whole. The rest however was not recovered before I left. The piece Harlock points to is new to me, but it seems to speak of a terrible fear from old times, of a light that can be overcome only by darkness, and this...' She pointed to another fragment, 'speaks of a returning to darkness, of becoming one with the terror.' She paused, shook her head, her light, fine hair shimmering in soft waves. 'Maybe. I see the symbols for conjoining, but the tense is confusing. It might even be speaking of something that has already happened. Or could happen again. I could not tell you if I even have the correct syntax. The fragment could refer to something that is both past and future. It could even be allegorical, not literal. As I said. An old language, and the symbols might have meanings we no longer used by my age.'

Yattaran leaned back in his chair, chewing on a toothpick, arms folded. 'Doesn't seem like something worth killing over. And what does it have to do with dialheads?'

'Not the machinners themselves,' I suggested. 'But the need for the Arcadia and the reason why Loki has been manipulating an entire civilisation into doing his dirty work for him.' Blank looks all round, except for Tochiro, who gave me a thumbs-up. 'Loki wanted to use our dark matter engines for something, but he has his own ship. So why us? What's so different about the Arcadia's engines?'

Silence. I turned to Tochiro's hologram. 'That was your cue, by the way.' He beamed.

'Well, Mimay controls the release of the dark matter, and that's no different to their ships - they always had a living interface. But on the Arcadia the central computer - that'd be me for anyone who isn't keeping up - shapes it, uses it. It's our life forces that give it its purpose. Ships like the Phantasm are powerful but the Arcadia's energy is off the charts crazy. That's one reason why although Arcadia can operate without one of the three of us short term, in the long haul it also needs a captain at the helm. Gotta hand it to Harlock, when he screwed up, he didn't do it by halves.' He must have realised the looks he was getting from around the table were not quite so admiring. 'Ah, sorry, sorry. I could be over-thinking it and maybe he's just too fond of his ship to cannibalise it.'

I took up the narrative, slowly picking my way through the scattered pieces. 'But if he builds a machine made of up living parts, controlled and powered by a combination of captured souls and dark matter, linked to an enormous antenna, pointed at a particular region of space... something similar to the Jovian Blaster the fleet tried to use on us?'

Watching the penny finally drop around the rest of the table would have been satisfying if the stakes were not so high.

'This is what goes through your head when I'm not around to distract you?' Kei murmured next to me. 'I ought to get shot more often.'

For once I didn't find the jest remotely funny, and it must have showed because she gave my arm a little squeeze. 'Sorry,' she whispered. I forced a smile, and also tried to relax over tense muscles in my neck and shoulders.

'It's fine. I guess some things just leave my skin a bit thin; if I'm being an arse, just thump me.' I turned my attention to the prisoner. 'Can you tell us anything about that tower? Anything at all?'

He took a deep breath before replying, his eyes a little out of focus, as though fighting to hold onto a thought. 'As I said, it was all in their own language, but there were times Loki spoke to him about a gate. And as you suggested, the people they downloaded into parts were going somewhere, but what for and where, I have no idea. But they did have their own agenda, behind giving Lar Metal access to their technology. They couldn't care less about mechanisation, what humans do to themselves they just find amusing.'

'Maybe we could get more information out of Hagan directly,' Emeraldas suggested. She smiled at Yamori and he looked decidedly dyspeptic. There really was something terribly cold behind those lovely eyes, and I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end.

'You really want to destroy an innocent man just to get information?' Doc asked. 'Yamori is as much a victim...' Emeraldas silenced her with that cold stare.

'Innocent?' She stood up, and walked around the table until she could stand next to him, the point of her knife at his throat. Funnily enough, no-one rushed to the guy's aid. 'A victim? Oh, maybe now, that the chips are down, or if he fears that the snake lurking in his head is never going to give him his body back. But this creep used to always be hovering around my mother. Even before he was in that mask he hated papa. And I had to stay in my sister's room at night because he'd started looking at her the same way he did my mother. What - did you think that if you couldn't have her, maybe the daughter would do?' The tip of her knife pricked his skin and a thin trickle of blood ran down his neck. 'Papa always said you were an opportunistic, vindictive little prick.'

'Emeraldas!' Selen admonished. The girl shrugged, which accidentally on purpose caused the tip of her knife to dig in a little further. I refrained from pointing it out.

'Well, Maetel pretty much busted that mask, so I guess we can't get at the nibelung. Pity. I think Kei would have liked a turn with him as well.' With a mock resigned sigh she removed her knife from Yamori's throat, and he visibly sagged with relief.

'Did you want a crack at him?' I asked as Emeraldas trooped out. 'Because I'm sure no-one would stop you..' With a little jerk of my head I indicated we follow Emeraldas out. Once out of earshot of the room, I continued. 'Speak now, or forever hold your peace...'

Kei shook her head. 'Actually, I rather enjoyed watching him squirming at the hands of a kid. Plus, this way, he'll be on edge waiting to see what, if anything I decide to do to him.' Her smile at this was almost as feral as Emeraldas' as she continued in a low voice. 'Sometimes the anticipation can be worse than the actuality. He'll be imagining far worse than I could probably come up with. But there's something off about the guy, I just can't put my finger on it...' She tilted her head slightly and smiled at me. 'You know, he reminds me a bit of how you were when you first came on board. Though significantly creepier.'

'I hope I wasn't that much of a weaselling little shit. He seemed to take issue with my pronunciation or translation earlier. And did you notice the little bastard didn't always answer the question put to him properly? He's lying his arse off in places. I just can't quite figure out where.'

She stared at me, a smaller, nicer smile playing around her lips.

'So: good pirate, bad pirate?'

I grinned. 'I was thinking bad pirate, worse pirate, but it's your call. Do you want to go first, or shall I?'

'You need the practice. Go get him!'

* * *

We needed to get the non combatants out of the room, however. I didn't feel comfortable interrogating someone with former babysitters watching, and that also included former commander Levary. Not that I intended to tear the sadistic little shit a new one, but it's hard to concentrate on pulling off a badass routine with the feeling that you're being graded on your performance, or meeting with serious disapproval of your lifestyle choices from older family members.

We walked back in, and I stopped to have a discreet word with Selen, since technically Yamori was her prisoner and Zero's. She agreed prompty enough, though Zero looked as though he wanted to say something. He shut his mouth again when Selen kicked him under the table. Yattaran and Levary both gave us puzzled looks as they left, but my crew at least didn't question the request when I asked them to follow. Neither, despite a long hard look, did the professors, though neither of them looked too happy about it.

And then then were three. Yamori had been left handcuffed to his chair, and looked uncomfortable to say the least. The blood from Emeraldas' little nick had already dried in a line down the side of his throat. I walked around the table and perched on the edge next to him.

'Now that we've got a little privacy, time for some straight answers. Feel free to resist. In fact, I rather hope you do decide to stay coy. I still have the scars from the last time we met.'

'That wasn't me.'

'So you say. But I have to is it you're hiding?'

Since running around on Earth without any kind of protection against the elements, my voice had dropped into a deeper, huskier register than I'd had before. Personally I thought it sounded a little grating, but it seemed to work a lot better at delivering unspoken threats. It also helped to only have the one eye to glare through.

'I don't know what you're talking about...' He gulped as Kei stood up and pulled out a knife. 'What - I talk or you sic your little whore on me?'

I hadn't planned on getting physical with the prick, but some lines he had to learn not to cross. I backhanded him hard enough to rock him in the chair, and stopped him from crashing to the floor by holding onto the arm. I let it teeter for a moment, then let it settle. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his lip. 'Ground rules. You don't insult Kei. For the record, she's not here to act as a threat if you don't answer my questions. She's here for your protection, to make sure there's something of you left to answer Selen and Zero's questions after I'm done with you. So you might want to stay on her good side. Are we clear?'

He nodded. The undamaged cheek twitched slightly. Amazing what you could achieve without even raising your voice. 'Good boy. Now. Let's start over, shall we? What is it you're holding back?'

'Loki... after he left, it got easier to fight Hagan. Without one of his own to interact with, it was harder for him to hold onto his own identity. A couple of months ago, I managed to fight him back down.' He gasped out.

'And the mask?'

'I thought I could help Yayoi - Promethium - if no-one knew. If I carried on pretending to be Hagan, then no-one questioned anything. But what I said before, is true. He is still in here, and I've no idea if I can hold him back forever.'

'Which of you killed Ban?' I asked, coldly. He flinched. I was sorely tempted to invite Emeraldas and her sister back in at this point. 'You murderous little shit.'

'And it was also you who tortured Harlock?' Kei asked. She made her way to his other side and leaned over him. 'Well aren't you the clever little monster, staying so well in character...' The knife in her hand dipped to point at his groin and from the cold sweat he broke into, I guessed he remembered her threat back on Lar Metal to geld him.

'You also lied about how much you understand the nibelung language,' I added. He looked startled. ' Yeah, you need to work on your poker face, Yamori. That supercilious little sneer you get when you know something someone else doesn't is a bit of a giveaway. What I don't get is, if you're so keen to help us, why you didn't offer that up? Why hold out on us?'

He didn't reply, just lapsed into a stubborn silence. I decided to play a hunch. 'Thing is, I think you're giving us just enough to be useful to keep around, but not so much that you tip your hand about the fact that you've got some control over the monster in your head. Are you hoping we'll slip up and let you find your way back to your queen?'

Oh. From his smug smile, I had a horrible feeling I'd just taken a misstep. He looked me straight in the eye, though not without a shiver.

'It's not that simple,' he said quietly. 'This thing inside... I have to let it think it's still in control. Hagan... he's not so used to our thought processes. Humans, that is. I can mostly fool him into thinking my thoughts and actions are his. If I let him dictate some of my actions, he relaxes. He can't tell easily where he ends and I begin. If I keep that line blurred, I stay just far enough ahead of him. If I tell you all I know, if I slip and let too much show, he'll sense it, and I won't win that fight.'

Kei shrugged and put her knife away. 'I actually think he's telling the truth.'

I was finding myself agreeing. If so, he was walking a terrifying tightrope. 'There's no way we can get all the answers we want without tipping our hand?' He nodded.

'For what it's worth, you're already too late. Loki's already set in motion the machine that will open the Gate.'

'So the legend on the ruins might well be true? ' Kei asked. 'Can we make any headway on all that talk of light and darkness?'

'The professor might, with Mimay's help. I have a few suspicions.' I turned my attention back to Yamori. 'If you had a chance to put a stop to Loki's plan...' I raised my hand to stop him replying. 'Just listen. The less you talk perhaps the more you can hold onto yourself. If we can get past Lar Metal's defenses, we should be able to take out the antenna array without too much trouble. But I need to know - is the machine still on the planet?'

He shook his head. 'It's being built elsewhere, and that location is something I don't know.'

Kei leaned towards him, grinning as he flinched. 'So how does this work? If the machine is in one system, but the power for it and the antenna are on Lar Metal? Can you answer?'

He nodded, and I noticed again that slightly distracted look that made me suspect he was having to distract his unwanted partner. He really did seem to be trying all of a sudden. 'They have hyperspace rings. We use them mostly for quick raids on the systems they lie in. Loki's been using those harvests to cover the movements of the rings to align them with the gate. Two birds with one stone - we harvested the colonists and left no-one behind to notice the rings had been moved. It's taken years to get this far.'

'Like the Jovian blaster,' Kei breathed. 'How the hell do we knock something like that off course if it's systems apart?'

I took her to one side. 'Go get Ali to take this guy back to his cell. I don't want to discuss any further plans in front of him until we have to.'

'You have an idea.' She gave me her best penetrating stare. I nodded.

'A bit of one. I might have a play we can make. But I need to talk to a few people first.'

I left Kei to organise getting Yamori back under lock and key, and went to gather up my technical experts.

* * *

'What can you tell me about the dimensional oscillators?' I asked. We were standing in the main computer room a couple of hours later : myself, Yattaran, Mimay, Levary and Tochiro's hologram.

'It was a tool to adjust gravitational obstacles - dimensional faults, black holes - anything that could interefere with intergalactic travel.'Tochiro replied. 'There was talk back in our day of setting up an immense inter and intra galactic 'railway' before the war. A way of tying all the planets together in a simple, easy to navigate travel system. One of those things that just died a death when all hell broke loose. Pity. My grandfather was on the original team that brainstormed that one, and he had some really great ideas about making the ships look like old Earth...' he trailed off and grinned sheepishly. 'Sorry. I guess I can get just as distracted as Harlock here does when someone mentions vegetables...'

I resisted the childish urge to stick my tongue out at him. Somehow.

'But they can be used as a weapon,' Levary pointed out gruffly. 'The council were terrified of what Harlock - the old one - planned to do with them. Mind you, they never imagined just how far he was prepared to go until Isora told them about the nodes of time...'

Yeah, and I still couldn't figure out just how he'd got as much information as he'd had. One of these days I'd catch my breath and nail a few people to the floor until I got some answers. Starting with a vague alien beauty and a short dead guy.

'They could level an entire star system.' Yattaran this time. 'One reason I wasn't anywhere near as sure as Kei that the captain was telling us everything. '

Levary snorted. 'If only some of you had actually acted on your gut feelings, perhaps there wouldn't have been as many of my crew and comrades floating around the solar system in pieces.'

I headed this one off before it could spill over. 'Putting aside old grievances, I want you all to take a look with Mimay and the professor at the data from Niflheim. Loki is opening a gate of some sort - maybe an interdimensional fault, and we may need a way to shut it down again, if simply destroying the antenna array, the processing plant and their machine aren't enough.'

'All very well,' said Levary. 'But can you lay your hands on one quickly, if you need to? How close is the nearest?'

'Very close, at a guess,' I replied. 'Harlock visited Tabito, and I'm guessing it wasn't a social call?' I looked to Mimay, and she inclined her head slightly. 'Thought so.' I turned to Yattaran. 'You and Maji need to liaise with Mimay and the professor over that translation. If we can't shut that rift down by taking out the infrastructure, we might need a pretty big blast. Tochiro - you need to find the damn thing. Shouldn't be too hard to get the telemetry of that array if you talk to Selen, see what data she has. Finding those rings will be like looking for a needle in a haystack, unless we can narrow down the search areas.'

My commlink pinged just then. ' Harlock.'

'Kei. We've just picked up a signal from the Prometheus. She's been in a hell of a fight, the colonel sends his apologies, but he's not going to make it in time.'

'He's already missed the meeting,' I pointed out.

'That's not what he meant. Apparently there's a harvest ship heading this way, with an armed escort. He's a day behind it, can't possibly match delta-v in time to engage. We've got about ten hours before she's in range.'

My mind was suddenly off and racing, with a plan so damn crazy I wasn't sure I dared voice it. Oh, but it was risky... so damn risky... 'Get me a line to the Futatsuboshi. I need to talk to Selen. I'm on my way to the bridge.'

'No need,' Kei replied. 'She's on the link already. Says she's got a crazy plan, and you probably won't 't like it...'

'If it's the same one I've got in mind, damn straight I won't. On my way.'

I took off for the bridge at a run.


	13. Chapter 13

They say great minds think alike - or fools seldom differ. That Selen had had a similar idea to my own crazyness was either serendipity or pure dumb luck. Only time would tell, and once we were committed we'd have precious little of that commodity.

I took a short cut on to the bridge gantry by the simple expedient of grabbing the handrail and flipping neatly up over from the comms section it overhung, halfway up the stairs and bouncing the rest of the way up two steps at a time. Kei rolled her eyes at my acrobatics but said nothing as I took the wheel.

'We're co-ordinating with the Futatsuboshi,' I told her. 'We take out the cruiser supporting the cargo ship. Selen will lead the ground defence, she's already getting everyone in town to safety in the mines. Zero's at the helm of the Futatsuboshi, and he'll be taking out the cargo ship - but only her engines. If she's already carrying, we want as few casualties as possible. We also need that ship intact.' Out of the bridge window I could see the little ship already taking off. 'Kei - we might need fighter support for Zero. Organise a wing and have them follow him up. Ali - Kei's station until she gets back here. Yattaran, get all guns manned and cleared for firing. Mimay - whenever you're ready?'

I felt the dark matter engines come on line, that bone deep thrill that intensified as I took hold of the wheel. Beside me Yattaran was barking orders with typical gusto. With an enthusiastic caw, the bird landed on my shoulder and nibbled my ear before I slapped his damn beak away gently. I curled my hands around the balusters firmly. 'Arcadia - lift off!'

For a ship so graceful and deadly swift in space, Arcadia always felt as though she laboured to get off the ground. We'd needed a pretty big plain to land on simply because we had to lumber forwards a little before tearing ourselves out of the ground and soaring skywards into her natural medium. Once free of atmosphere and the gravity well however, she soared effortlessly, shrouding herself in the billowing darkness of her dark matter shield. I'd only seen her a couple of times from outside, and the sight of that red-eyed skull coming out of the black clouds was awe-inspiring. No-one could ever accuse us of not making a statement.

We swept past the Futatsuboshi, quickly leaving the smaller ship behind. Ali's sensors picked up the signatures of our five man fighter wing moving into support formation above and below her. Then we were heading out into the void.

'Time to engagement?' I asked.

'Time radar response coming back... two, one... fifteen minutes before they're in range of our main battery. Picking up three vessels. One matches the cargo profile we saw before. The other two...' Ali whistled through his teeth. 'Seems the SDF has been putting the wind up 'em, cap'n. Two capital ships according to the data Selen gave us about the Lar Metal fleet.'

'Any ID on which ones?' Lar Metal didn't standardise their fleet the way the Gaia fleet did. Each one was a unique design, and each named after a former queen.

Kei bounced up the stairs, and strode over to muscle Ali off her console. She'd taken her sling off, but I knew better than to argue. With a grin Ali headed back down to the main bridge floor and his station, controlling the main battery. 'The Kaguya and the Cleopatra. The Cleopatra is a destroyer, point battery of sixteen cannon, main battery two ranks of three capital plasma guns. The Kaguya is a carrier. Complement of fifty _Queen Tiye_ class fighters, similar armament and speed to the Cosmo Tiger, but slightly less manoeuvrable.'

'Armament?'

'Point defence only. She relies on her fighters and hangs back. What we usually refer to as a sitting duck.' Kei grinned. 'Just let me know where to aim.'

'Ignore the carrier, we can shrug off the fighters, unlike the SDF ships. Nothing but gnat bites to us. Get between the cargo ship and the Cleopatra, then let rip. Target her weaponry, then cripple her.' I swung the wheel hard onto our new course, revelling in the speed and responsiveness of the ship. No fighter I'd ever flown had had this much power or manoeuvring speed. It was a hell of a rush, and I was grinning like a lunatic as the target vessel came within range.

'Secondary battery only, fire. Time on target, thirty seconds.' Kei called out.

The four ranks of triple-barreled dimensional particle oscillator turrets fired in succession, targeting the Cleopatra as we span round and dived to come in behind her from above. Their own fire missed us by a wide margin, but from the grin on Yattaran's face as Kei's count hit zero, at least some of ours were on target.

'Beam cannon one through twelve, target weapon systems, fire at will. Thirteen through twenty four, target fighters. Secondary battery, fire.' Kei rapped out. 'Would you for the love of Earth stop throwing this thing around and keep us in range? We're missing more than we're hitting,' she snapped. Since I'd had to dodge a seriously close salvo from their forward guns as their captain tried to run a ring around us, I tried not to take it too personally.

'Anytime you want to take the helm, Kei, just tell me,' I called back. 'Shit, that thing's almost as fast as we are - since when was that possible?' If I was throwing the Arcadia around like a space wolf, so Kei was justified in calling me out, but the gunners on the Cleopatra had finally got our range and were making it tough to keep moving out of the way of their fire as we danced around each other. The ship was a little smaller than us - maybe seven-fifty metres. 'Just keep throwing the secondary battery at them, make them dance out of range. When they get cocky and think that's all we've got, let 'em have it with the main battery.'

'Anytime you want to take this station, darling, just tell me,' she shot back. I smiled. Loose translation: 'shut the fuck up and let me do my job...'

'Yattaran, can you get any readings on that ship? The specs Selen gave us are way off.' I asked.

'Central computer's already analysing.' He replied. His hands danced over the controls. 'Well whadya know - traces of dark matter in the engine emissions. Sneaky little bastards have been getting some help with the tune-ups!'

'Seriously not good,' I grunted back as we tumbled round again for another fly-past. 'As long as they aren't feeding that into the weapon systems...' I almost lost my footing as a blast hit us broadside on, and scored a massive furrow in our armour. 'Shit. What the hell just hit us? And will someone turn down those fucking alarms? I'm well aware of the fact we just took one down our flank, I'm already half blind, there's no need to deafen me as well!'

'You just had to open your bloody mouth about those weapons, didn't you?' Yattaran yelled over the additional clamour of the hull breach alarms.

'Increase power to the dark matter shield. Kei - main battery, fire when ready!' I called out. 'Yattaran, one more crack like that and you'll be the one going out there to paper over the cracks! Ali - casualties?'

'Two injured. Hit near number 3 and four turrets. One dead. That last hit went straight through.'

'Kei, where's my main battery?'

'Re-routing power around the damaged area. Keep us out of range for another thirty seconds, we'll be back on line. Maji, don't let me down!'

'On it, Miss Kei, but the auto repair is struggling to overcome the dark matter in the breach.' Maji's voice crackled over the comms, broken by static. 'Okay, good to go!'

'Get out safely, Maji, don't hang around near there!' I linked in. It got me a grunted acknowledgement from our quiet armourer - engineer.

'Main battery online. Carlos, Dan, fire when ready. Synchronised burst, take out the engines. Bob, Yasu, rake the skin of that thing. Payback's a bitch.' Kei's raised voice carried over the cacophony. I kept the helm steady as the main battery - the three tiers of four massive dimensional oscillator cannon launched a deadly salvo towards the Cleopatra.

Time sometimes seems to slow during a battle. Close in engagements are a total cluster-fuck, barely time to think let alone act, but at these distances, dodging in and out of the ridiculously large ranges of our respective energy weapons, you end up waiting around for your hits to score - or if you timed it wrong and didn't lead your target correctly, miss. A cheer went up from the bridge crew as our first salvo took the Cleopatra right up her oversized arse, then followed up by a raking enfilade that took out her portside weapon systems. It also must have taken out some essential systems, because she began to list badly, her stabilisers blown, by the look of it.

I relaxed a little. 'Kei, mop up the rest of her guns, then offer quarter. If they refuse, let 'em have a blast over their bow, then ask nicely again. If they don't stand down, get them out of my space!'

She grinned evilly. 'Aye aye, sir!'

* * *

Turned out there was no need for further threats. Her captain rolled over at the first asking, and I dispatched a bullet with five men to take over. Looking at the readings, we'd probably have to get the remaining crew off the damn thing as well. She didn't have long left.

The beam cannon crew had made short work of the fighters sent against us, but then, the Kaguya hadn't really been interested in us. She was busy giving Zero a headache. I'd lost one pilot with his plane, the other four battered but safe. Leaving the Cleopatra well in hand, I turned the Arcadia towards the Futatsuboshi's position.

'Who did we lose?' I asked Kei quietly.

'Eddie was on number four turret when they hit us. Solly in the fighter that took a direct hit.' She replied sadly.

I swore under my breath, a death grip on the top baluster with my left hand, the other in a fist by my side. Eddie was the youngest crew member excluding myself, Kei and Anita's lad. Quiet kid, small, skinny, but a little jumpy. Never did get his backstory. Solly was a jovial roughneck, always quick with a joke in the refractory over dinner. One of the older, former fleet pilots, he'd taken to the faster planes like a duck to water. 'Injured?'

'Five minor shrapnel injuries, according to Doc. One guy with a nasty concussion, one broken arm.' She replied.

I let out a sigh of relief. It could have been much worse. But there was little chance to brood over our losses, as we were closing in on the second battle. I asked Yattaran to get me Zero.

'Wondered when you'd show up,' was the sardonic response over the comms. 'Seems the captain of the Kaguya wants a piece of our ass. Mind sending a little deterrent his way for me? Our guns can't make a dent in her hide.'

'Get your tiny, delicate little behind down groundside, and help Selen with the mopping up,' I replied. 'We'll take out the trash for you. What's the status on the cargo transport?'

'Licking their wounds on the ground. Forced them down a few miles east of town. A few dialhead troops causing some trouble, but nothing the boss can't handle. The transport's stuffed full of colonists, by the way. Tabito was probably an opportunistic stop-off on their way back to Lar Metal. Probably two thousand people on board. This could be a problem. '

'We'll deal with that when we get down. Right now, we've got the Kaguya to deal with.'

He cut the connection and his cute little ship peeled off, heading for the planet, leaving us facing the carrier.

'She's hailing us, captain!' Yattaran called out.

'Put them on AV,' I told him. 'I'll talk to their captain.'

* * *

It was a short discussion. Zero had left his comm channel on and the captain - still human - had been practically shitting himself at the thought of going head to head with the Arcadia. Ran up the white flag and rolled over without a murmur.

'Heh, gotta love it when these guys can't face a fight.' Yattaran was grinning with malicious satisfaction. 'Want me to send anyone over?'

I shook my head. 'We"re down seven injured, two dead, four pilots still providing support fot Selen, and five men taking care of the Cleopatra. That leaves us a little under manned. Hold them in our sights for a bit longer, and put out a call to the Prometheus. Ichimonji shouldn't be too far out now. He can mop up the Kaguya for us.' I called Ali over to take over Kei's post, and Yasu to take the helm. Kei and I had a couple of difficult visits to make while we waited.

* * *

As always, the aftermath was worse than the battle. The Cleopatra's enhanced guns had ripped through Arcadia's hull in a couple of places, necessitating a detour or two whilst the auto-repair finished its work. Maji's crew were still on clean-up duty along the corridor that accessed the gun turrets, and this was still strewn with debris. Twisted metal, crushed ceramics and that odd patina of the dark matter suffusing everything. Thankfully the hull breach had sealed instantly.

Not soon enough however on turret four. Three and five were also damaged, to a lesser extent, but even from the corridor you could smell the acrid ozone from discharged plasma, and worst of all, the stench of charred flesh.

'You don't need to do this.' Kei took my arm and dragged me to a standstill just short of turret four.

I lifted her hand from my arm and patted it gently. 'Yes, I do.' I took a deep breath and walked through the hatchway.

* * *

If anyone, after an explosion, tells you that there's nothing left of someone caught in it, they're lying. There was quite a lot of poor Eddie left. It just wasn't all in one place, Auto repair took care of most of the mechanical damage, but it didn't automatically clear up the human wreckage. That was the job of whichever hapless crewman drew the short straw for cleanup duty.

I'd been in a space battle before. Even boarded and been boarded. But always in a running fight, with someone else dealing with the aftermath for the most part. Someone else clearing up the mess guys like me left in their wake.

That someone was giving me a short nod of acknowledgement before getting back to work, which I returned. I couldn't have managed anything more coherent right then. I'd broken out into that cold, clammy sweat which usually indicated I was about to throw up. Kei steered me out of the room without a word, and bundled me into number six, shutting the hatch firmly behind us.I leaned my forehead against the wall, and thankfully the acid in my throat went away. I felt Kei's hand on my shoulder, and turned to face her. She was pale herself, but when I tried to speak she touched a finger to my lips and shushed me.

'No talking, just hold me.'

She wound her arms around my waist and I did the same, leaning my cheek next to her face. It ws a couple of minutes before I realised I was being played. 'It's not me doing the comforting here, is it?' I asked. If anything she just gripped a little tighter.

'Yes and no. But you looked like death warmed over in there. Wouldn't do for the captain to throw up all over the deck. It's your first real fight, I'm guessing?' She pulled away slightly and looked up at me.

'No. Just the first where I've had to face the mess I usually leave behind. First time I've lost anyone under my command. On the bridge, it's almost surreal. You're so distanced from the immediate reality. Insulated. I just keep seeing that... that... ' I had to take a deep breath, but nothing was going to scrub the image of what was left of a man from my eye anytime soon. 'It brought home just how much is at stake. I keep asking myself if I could have made any different decisions, done anything better, moved faster, sooner...'

'We all do,' she told me gently. 'And it's not a bad thing if you do it after the fact. But don't let it paralyse you into not acting. We've still got a job to do, and we 've got to go back out there, put our game faces on and show the crew they've got a captain and an exec. they can depend on. They need our strength right now, and that's easy when things go well. They need to see you're a rock when it goes wrong.'

'How did _he_...'

She cut across what I'd been going to ask, knowing who I meant. 'He didn't. In hindsight, I don't think he really wanted to get that close to anyone. I used to think he'd put himself on the line for any of us, and that was true, up to a point. But he didn't do the whole 'steady the guys' routine. That was mostly me and Yattaran.'

'So who was there to steady you, before?' I really hadn't intended to pry, it just sort of slipped out.

'I went back to my cabin and sobbed into a pillow.' She touched my scarred cheek gently. 'I much prefer your shoulder.'

I reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 'Let's do this.'

* * *

The Prometheus turned up about the time we'd finished doing the rounds and had crashed out on the bed. Well. I'd crashed. Kei was busy sorting out the reports from the various sections. I'd just started pulling my boots off when the commlink pinged.

'Harlock.'

'Sorry captain, but that SDF ship just left IN-SKIP. She's heading in-system, should rendezvous with us in about twenty minutes.' Carlos on the other end sounded apologetic.

I gave up on my boots, and grabbed my jacket. 'I'll be on the bridge.'I killed the comms and looked at Kei. 'You can sit this one out if you want.' She gave me a vague handwave without looking up from the console on top of that baroque mostronsity of a desk. I grinned and called out to the bird instead, as the damn thing was waddling aimlessly around the room. 'What about you then? Keep me company?' It sqwarked once and taking off from the ground rather awkwardly, flapped over to its favoured perch on my right shoulder. 'Atta boy. Or is it girl?'

'Boy.' Kei called out without raising her head. 'Captain always referred to it as 'he', anyway.'

Bird settled and happily fluffing his feathers, I made my way to the bridge, rather less than enthusiastically, truth be told. It had been a long day.

* * *

The Colonel himself was on the video link when I got there. It was some satisfaction at least to see that he didn't look much better than I did, and he was also sporting a nasty looking cut above his left eye with a seriously purple bruise surrounding it.

'Colonel. Good to see you again.'

'Harlock. You look like shit. Tough fight?'

'Lost a couple of good men. Could have been a lot worse though. Got caught flat footed by these new weapons the Cleopatra was playing with. Please tell me they aren't standard across their fleet?'

'As far as I know, the rest of Lar Metal's fleet is still using optical cannon. Why, what did they hit you with?'

His face darkened when I told him about the dark matter enhancements.

'Bad enough I have to contend with a pirate running around with advanced alien tech. No offense.'

'None taken. I don't plan on raiding civilian targets, you know that.'

'Hmmph. However, this technology out in the open? It's a game changer.'

'It's a distraction.' I pointed out. 'Loki's not being generous. Those targetted will either be shitting themselves, and so not in his way, or falling over each other to get their own sticky hands on it, and so also not not a threat. Or they simply get in the cross hairs and die. Every scenario is a win, except the one where the Arcadia shows up. That's closer to a draw, because we can fight back.'

'Our sensors show you took care of the Cleopatra?'

I grinned. 'Let her have it right in the asp,' I deadpanned. It just got me a glare and a long suffering sigh. 'Onto more serious matters, Selen and I have a plan, of sorts. We can deal wth both threats, we think, but we will need the SDF. Or at the very least, the Prometheus. Will you hear us out?'

He tugged on one of those overlong moustaches. 'Given how bad it is out here? I'll listen. Rei's contacted me about the carrier. We'll secure her then move on to the evacuation of the Kaguya. With a bit of luck we can meet you on Tabito in about twenty-four hours.'

* * *

The delay in the Prometheus clearing up the mess we'd left for them at least gave us time to deal with our biggest headache once the escort ships had been removed from the equation: what to do about the existing transportees on the cargo ship. None of us were looking forward to the confrontation.

Almost three thousand men, women and children had been crammed into the main hold, and it was there we - myself, Selen, Kei and Zero - chose to deliver our speeches. Even knowing that not all of the transportees were there by force didn't prepare me for the response.

Selen eloquently laid out the hidden agenda, the bodies disposed of as so much landfill, the fate of the smaller children or those not strong enough to finalise the process successfully. She offered a home on Tabito - permanent or not, depending on preferences, for those who wished to change their minds, or to escape a fate they hadn't chosen.

The silence that followed was all too brief before a cacophony broke out, everyone shouting over each other to be heard, untli Zero stepped forward with a bellowed call for quiet.

'How do we know you're even telling the truth?' One belligerent middle-aged man shouted up. 'Pirates and rebels - none of you look as if you've ever had to go short of a meal because you can't grow enough to feed yourselves, let alone meet the quotas the colonial authorities place on us for exports. Supplies get short, you just take what you need.'

'What the hell do we have to gain by lying?' I asked. 'It's not as though we want to take your places. We've seen this with our own eyes. And if you think a mechanical body will solve all of your problems, you're sadly mistaken. You say we're thieves who take what we want to survive? What does that make the millions of mechanised men who will be forever dependent upon the deaths of others for sustenance, or for the ability to carry on thinking clearly? For a few to exist forever, millions must die. Do you really want to give up everything that makes you human? Becoming a ghoul, preying on those weaker than yourself until you forget everything that made you the person you are? To sell out the future for a few extra years of your own existence? There's no going back once you take this step. No children, no legacy for future generations.' I let my gaze roam around the room, seeking eye contact with those who might be prepared to listen. Quite a few refused to make eye contact, especially amongst the younger, single men who congregated together like a pack. They almost radiated a sullen refusal to engage with anyone else in the room, but especially us. 'You won't be free. You'll be as much at the mercy of the manufacturers of your spare parts as you ever were at the hands of your governments.'

'So you'd have us grow old, and die, living on worlds which can barely support us?' A younger woman called out. 'Old before our time?' She was pretty, in a sharp featured, spiteful way.

'Recent research is showing there is a way to turn the terraforming processes around, and improve conditions, ' I pointed out. 'Even the Earth is recovering from her devastation. There is hope!'

'But not for us,' a younger man shouted. 'Even if true, then those improvements won't be seen in ours, our childrens' or even our grandchildrens' lives.'

'You miss the point,' Kei spoke up, stepping forward. 'If you take this path, there won't _be_ any grandchildren. Ever. Is that a world any of you really want to live in?'

There was some muttering, and a few people did shuffle towards the doors, where Selen's people waited to assist them. Mostly, I noticed, women or families with young children. But it was a fraction of the total. Most of the men looked stubbornly resistant, especially those who appeared to be travelling alone. No families, no ties, and given the birthrates and lack of women in the outer worlds, not much hope of ever having them. Even I'd paid enough attention to my uncle's lectures before I'd had to cut my studies short to know that bachelor packs were pretty much the worst group for trouble. They had nothing to lose, and more than one tyrant in history had made use of that basic principle. Hell, most armies still did.

* * *

I turned and left, unable to watch further. Kei followed me, as I wandered a little aimlessly off the ship before finding a convenient fallen tree trunk to sit on, looking out over the empty plain. It was dusk, the faded sun setting low in the sky, casting an ashy rosy glow over the scene. She sat beside me and said nothing for a few minutes, then linked her arm in mine and laid her head on my shoulder.

'Don't take it too much to heart. You knew it wouldn't be easy.'

I sighed. 'Knowing and seeing turn out to be worlds apart. Did you see their faces? Especially the younger men. No hope, no future, and with no ties, nothing to humanise the situation, it's not real to them. You'd think it would be obvious, what's wrong this this scenario, but they can't see further than the end of their noses. I can't force them to stop. That would make me almost as bad as Promethium. People have to choose their own path. But you'd think they'd have a wider horizon.'

She was silent for a minute, before speaking, choosing her words carefully. You and I, Selen, Zero... the crew... we see further because we have to. When you stare out at space all day, there are no horizons. But when you have your head down, focused only on what's right in front of you, you can't even see as far as this...' she jerked her head to indicate the setting sun busy falling off the edge of the world. 'When surviving means not lifting your head up, when you can't afford the luxury of looking up, out and ahead, is it any wonder they refuse to see the problem? One step at a time, always looking at your feet.. for some it's the only way to survive.'

I put my arm around her waist, holding her close. 'When did you get so wise?'

She smiled sadly. 'I was in that place myself once. I didn't dare dream of anything better, because I was afraid I'd never be able to face each day if I did, because having that dream die piece by piece hurts like nothing else can.'

'What changed?'

She kissed my cheek lightly. 'Harlock. Then you. Mostly you. Harlock's dream was as boneheaded as theirs is, when you think about it. It was a branch to cling to because the alternative was worse. It was you who gave me hope, you who showed me I could have a future worth living for. Some of those colonists will change their minds, and that's the best we can hope for. We can't save anyone who doesn't want to be saved. But those you save - they're the future we fight to protect. Hold onto that, Harlock.'

I turned until I could look her in the eyes. 'Funny. Here was me thinking it was you who gave _me_ hope. On Tokaraga, when you told me about Harlock's plan as you knew it at the time... in Harlock's cell, when you were begging him to see what was right under his nose, you had so much faith even before I pulled that damn flower out. On Tokarga I'd been so close to just giving in and completing my mission. If I had, I'd have been no better than those people back there, blind to anything outside my own pain.' I kissed her lips softly. 'I guess we saved each other.'

'Maybe that's as good as it gets,' she whispered. 'People saving each other, I mean. If we stand for anything at all, it's no bad example to set. Small victories.'

I couldn't find anything to say that wouldn't be redundant. It still hurt to know there was so little I could do that wouldn't make me yet another problem. But perhaps it would be enough to stand firm, and just be ourselves.

Perhaps it was the only way to avoid the mistakes Promethium and Harlock had made. As my uncle had said a few short weeks ago, you can't become what you fight.

* * *

We sat in silence and watched the sun set fully, and two moons rise, before we headed home to the Arcadia, and a much needed rest before we began the next stage of our plan. Tomorrow was going to be difficult. So wrapped up in our own thoughts were we that we didn't notice a young womam standing a few feet away until she cleared her throat.

'Erm... excuse me? Captain - Harlock?'

I looked up and round to see her clearly in the fading light. Average height, shortish, light hair. My age or a little younger. Far too thin, with that desperate look that I'd seen all too often recently amongst the transportees.

She was also very, very pregnant. She stood with one hand resting on her stomach, as if cradling the child inside.

'Just Harlock. What is it?' I tried to ask gently, but she still looked skittish.

Kei stood up and took her arm gently, but firmly, leading her to our makeshift bench. 'Here. Sit. It's not too comfortable, but it's the best we have out here!' She gave the girl a friendly smile, and was eventually rewarded with a shy one in return, as in obvious relief, she sat.

'I heard you talking, on the ship. I just needed to ask... is it true? The children...' she trailed off, perhaps unwilling to complete the thought. All I could do was nod, and she burst into tears.

At this point I was officially out of my depth, and looked helplessly at Kei, who didn't look any more comfortable than I felt. But she sat next to the girl and put her arm around her shoulder, waiting until the sobs turned to hiccups.

'I'm sorry. I don't normally get this way, but it's been so hard.'

'Your husband... the baby's father? I asked, wondering why she was out here alone. She shook her head.

'I was taken from our home world, Mistral. Rick... he was an SDF pilot. I've no idea if he's still alive or not. There was a battle, and the ship he was based on was damaged. When they rounded us up I heard them boasting about how easy it had been to take her out.' Another flood of tears, and I couldn't offer so much as a hanky. Kei, bless her, however, came up trumps with one of those small scraps of fabric women seem to think can do the job from her sleeve. Hardly enough to mop up the floods, but I guess it was the thought that mattered.

'What happened?' I asked, once the flood waters had receded a little. After a few gulping hiccups, she was able to tell us.

'They rounded everyone up in the main town, then started sorting us into groups. I wasn't showing then, and they didn't put me with the other pregnant women. I didn't see any of them on the transport. Someone said they took them to another ship but...' She looked at us both with wide, terrified eyes. 'There were rumours... that the ships were already full, and they might have just...'

I looked at Kei over the girl's lowered head. She looked as grim as I felt. I had to swallow hard to keep the bile down, and forced myself to put on a carefully neutral expression.

'How long were you on the transport?' Kei asked.

'Two months, I think. It's hard to know, but a doctor on board said I was about eight months now, a week ago. Which would be about two months since we were taken.'

'What's your name?' I asked.

'Laila.'

I tried to smile reassuringly at her. 'Well, if you want to come with us, the very least we can do is offer a warm bed, a hot meal, an obnoxiously efficient doctor and I'll personally try to get an SDF colonel of my acquaintance to try and find out if there were any survivors from that battle. Do you know the name of the ship?'

'Bellerophon, I think. I really wasn't paying too much attention when Rick was talking about it.' She looked a little brighter.

'I'll call in for transport. We'll get Yattaran to send a bullet, and Doc. Might need her anyway to look over any others who choose to stay.'

Eight months and change? I was just praying she didn't go into labour out here with just two ham-fisted pirates for help. Poor kid. I didn't hold out much hope for her missing husband, but at least she and her child had a chance.

Small victories.


	14. Chapter 14

The Prometheus lumbered into orbit a few hours later. Yattaran immediately dubbed it a 'flying brick' which kind of stuck. The SDF's engineers seemed to be a little lacking in imagination, as she was sort of flat and angular. Functional, inflexible and unimaginative. Rather like its captain. I couldn't argue that Ichimonji was in any way useless - the man could fight, and his record spoke for itself. But he had an abrasive way about him that even got under Mimay's skin. Which was in itself impressive, just not particularly helpful. It also had the effect of making me just itch to wind the pompous arse up, which was probably not a sensible move, and yes, under the circumstances somewhat inappropriate as well as counter productive. But he really was asking for it.

Ichimonji was straight down to business. The SDF was stretched thin patrolling the outer systems, and the Prometheus alone had seen far too much action in the few weeks since we'd last met. As Ichimonji had told me back on Heavy Meldar, entire worlds were being depopulated. Even given that few planets had populations in the millions - and it was noticeable from his data that none of the highly populated worlds were being targeted by the harvesters.

'They have a different approach on the high tech worlds,' Ichimonji told us. 'There it's all about selling a dream. No cramped cargo carriers for those who can afford to pay. They peddle immortality with impunity, a new dream for a faded people. Already Metabloody and Grand Technologia have instituted their own programmes, creating a two class society: The mechanised and the natural born. No prizes for guessing who consider themselves to be an elite. Never mind any greater agenda behind this, even if we take out Lar Metal and their puppet master nibelung advisors, we've got a massive problem building. This polarisation has already gone too far in the outer worlds. Destiny is the only advanced planet that isn't allowing them to peddle their wares openly, and we're outnumbered.' He looked around the room.

'At the risk of making myself unpopular, a lot of the current mess was avoidable if two of you entitled, privileged elite hadn't bucked your traces, and rather than work within the system, you chose to rebel against it and upset the status quo. The results on both occasions have led to the untidy cluster fuck the rest of us are now having to clear up. I can't fault the sentiments, but for the love of life, people, between you you've destabilised the two most powerful governments in this galaxy - as well as decimated the only other major military fleet capable of putting up a fight. Harlock here at least has the partial excuse of being younger, and picking up the pieces from another idiot's bad decisions, but Selen - the moment you ran from your responsibilities as the next ruler of Lar Metal, you handed the whole damn thing over to a girl who just didn't have your strength.'

Zero practically launched himself at the insufferable prig at that point, and had to be held back by Yattaran and Ali. 'Seriously, we're having that argument again?' He snarled. He let them sit him back down

'Since my opinion is only being confirmed by recent events, it seems you still aren't listening.' Ichimonji snapped back.

'Hindsight is twenty-twenty, Dan.'

'It's not hindsight, because I was yelling it in your ears twenty years ago, Rei.'

Selen, I noticed, was characteristically quiet, making no attempt to defend herself. But then, from one point of view, he wasn't wrong.

'Harlock?' Zero's voice, presumably looking for some backup. I kept my arms folded but stood up to pace the room.

'He does have a point. We made choices when we acted, and perhaps if I hadn't pushed the Gaia Sanction into a corner to the point where they felt they needed to find something else to bolster their power base, they might not have fallen quite so easily into this plan of Promethium's. Maybe if Selen hadn't told her mother where to stick her mind-destroying crown the question would never have arisen. But we made those choices for a reason. Because the status quo wasn't something we could in all good conscience continue to support. That it left a vacuum or led to something worse down the line, that, as I think my uncle here could tell you, is just human nature.'

Professor Daiba nodded sadly. 'Like the heads of a hydra, cut off one avenue of trouble, another does tend to arrive to replace it. Cycles of human behaviour are fairly consistent. You shouldn't start blaming them for making a stand, Colonel. At the end of the day, we can only fight for what we believe in, and hope for a better future. Isn't that what you're doing, by standing with us? Who can say if ten, twenty years down the line your decisions here today, tomorrow, a week from now - don't have terrible repercussions? As I understand it, even Selen's sister made her poor choices with the best of intentions. So did the old Harlock, and Mimay's brother...' he trailed off, with a sigh, then continued:

'It seems awfully negative to suggest that we shouldn't even try, at least. Too many people in these times are content to let others do their thinking for them. To stay silent, keep their heads down and not stand up for what they know to be right. If you're looking for some kind of mandate to back up your choices, Colonel, your're in the wrong company. Everyone in this room will stand by their own decisions, no-one here I think will make your mind up for you.'

'I kind of think he's afraid make his own mind up, in case he proves to be a big a screw up as his grandfather. Great grandfather or whatever,' Emeraldas piped up from the back of the room. As all eyes turned to the normally sullen girl, she bristled. 'What? I can see the bloody resemblance, even if you're all refusing to say it out loud.' She pointed a finger at the colonel. 'Personally I think you're just hiding behind your military rank and duties. You know damn well what needs doing, but it's easier to wait for someone to give you your orders, isn't it? Stop squirming and man up, for Earth's sake. I don't see Harlock here backing off from the tough calls, even if he is a bit of a drip. Sheesh.'

I kept having to mentally chant the 'can't strangle the little bitch' mantra, or I might have done something she'd regret after _that_ vote of 'confidence'.

Ichimonji snorted derisively. 'I don't need advice from children. I'm not even sure why it's necessary to have these youngsters in here. What can they possibly contribute...?'

Maetel, quietly sitting in a corner with my cuddle bug of a cousin on her lap, lifted her head. 'Because it's our fight as well.' She bent her head back over Tadashi's darker one, once again shutting the world out.

Ichimonji's reply was fairly predictable. 'These are matters for your parents and guardians, not for little girls.'

I winced inwardly, and waited for the axe to fall. Emeraldas didn't disappoint. She pushed herself off the wall she'd been propping up in a couldn't-give-a-shit pose and walked - no, strolled - over to him until she was right under his nose. Although tall for her age, he still had over a foot on her, but she still managed to force him to take a step back.

'My mother is the reason we're even having this discussion, you pompous prick. While you and your government dithered out here, she forced her entire population into slavery and mechanisation. My father died to try and stop her, and to save us. We might not be old enough to sit at your conference tables, but we can still die in the war you want to prevent. So yes, I'm going to speak up, and I'll fight. If you don't like it, you know where the door is. Asshole.'

With that last she simply turned her back on him and took her position back up at the wall, arms folded, as judgmentally stubborn as only the very young can get away with.

'Em!' Selen's shock at her language was clearly warring with amusement, judging by the look on her face. Zero grinned.

'No prizes for guessing which sister she takes after...'

The colonel looked almost apoplectic. 'Can none of you even control these youngsters? I expected at least some discipline from freelancers and pirates, given your reputations. It seems I was wrong.'

Kei smiled winningly at him, although I was probably the only person to recognise the steel under her facade. 'I wasn't much older than Emeraldas and Maetel when Harlock gave me a home on the Arcadia, colonel. Out here, sometimes you have to grow up quickly. The girls, Zack... they've all suffered just as much if not more than a lot of the adults around them, and in some cases, they've not seen anything from those in charge to convince them that the 'grown-ups' have got the faintest idea what to do about the situation. As for discipline... we're not the military. On board the Arcadia at least, you take responsibility for your own actions and opinions, you don't wait for someone to give them to you. Emeraldas is right. If you can't unbend and think out of the box you're in, maybe we have no use for you. Because what we need to do next isn't exactly in the rulebook.'

'About that...' he began.

Selen took a deep breath. 'We plan on letting the transport ship continue on its way to Lar Metal.'

The colonel looked as though he was really going to pop a vein at this. 'Need I remind you that there are over two thousand people on board that ship, facing mechanisation or conversion? How can you possibly...?'

'Nineteen hundred and seventy seven, after a few more have changed their minds and taken up our offer of either settling here or sending them home,' she continued smoothly. Her face gave nothing away of her inner regrets. We all had those. 'Those who remain on board have been given every opportunity to change their minds. They know the score, and it isn't our place to stop them throwing their lives away. That's your way, Dan, it isn't ours. Everyone forcibly taken has already disembarked. However when it takes off, there will be an addition to their numbers. And that, old friend, is why it has to go.'

'One extra passenger?' He scoffed. 'You'll sacrifice all those people - for what?'

'A ringer. Someone who volunteered to sneak in and try to find the location of the machine they're building. There's just one slight snag,' Zero added. 'To do it, our agent might have to become one of the parts for that machine.'

There was total silence in the room. Because honestly, what was there to say? We were betting on a long shot, and one no-one was really comfortable with. Not just because it was a one way trip for the agent concerned. The other issue was just who had been persuaded to take on this task, and no-one fully trusted him.

Even despite that, sending anyone to certain death was not something I felt proud of. It made me feel too much like Isora for comfort.

Even if the agent in question was Yamori Daisuke.

* * *

_Three hours earlier..._

A gaol cell wasn't the most comfortable of places, but I doubted that was the real reason Yamori looked like utter shit when Selen and I went in to see him. Doc had taken a look at his injuries, which she'd pronounced tolerably well healed. Even so, looking at that ruined face, I felt a sudden, uncomfortable kinship with the guy. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that what I was about to do was necessary, it stank.

_'A chance in ten thousand that you''ll succeed. No one to know if you do. No praise, no reward, even if you get out alive. But you made this choice on your own. No one forced you...'_

I might have been mentally paraphrasing Harlock's bitter condemnation of my own mission all those months ago, but the sentiment remained.

'Well, to what do I owe the honour?' He sneered. He didn't bother to get off his seat on the edge of the bunk.

'We have a proposition for you.' Selen answered bluntly. 'A chance, perhaps to get even with the nibelung who possesses you. Maybe even redemption, of a sort.'

'Why does that sound almost certainly fatal?' He sighed and shook his head sadly. 'I guess I know the answer to that. I'm never getting this bastard out of my head, am I?'

'As to that, no-one knows,' I told him. 'And yes, what we're going to ask will be a one way trip. But no-one will force you to go. Hell, once you're away from us, we can't even make sure you follow through. That choice is entirely yours.'

'You want me to go back to Lar Metal.' He stated flatly. At our astonished looks he smiled grimly. 'Oh, please. I used to be head of Internal Security. Don't play a player. Neither of you have it in you to be that cold-blooded anyway. There's a transport ship on the ground, there are far too many angles for you to cover on your own, and some of them aren't going to be resolved by pointing your big guns at them and blowing them to shit. My only question is which one?'

'The machine.' Selen replied unhappily. He stood up at that and began pacing his cell. Ten steps forward, ten back, repeat. Eventually he came up to the bars.

'This isn't about finding it. The only way I'll get there is by becoming one of the parts they make for it. So you're hoping that somehow, either I'll have what it takes to hold onto myself long enough to maybe frag the system from the inside, or that the thing inside me will maybe screw with the damn thing anyway?' He laughed harshly. 'Talk about backing an outsider.' He smashed his fists into the wall, hard enough to scrape the knuckles. 'The only way I can keep this monster under lock and key is pain. He's from a race that considered itself too civilised to visit such on each other. Oh no, they turned their attentions to other species, like little sociopaths torturing small animals. And you want me to get myself captured, attract enough attention to get myself rounded up for the right process, and give up _the physical body that can feel pain...!'_

'And yet,' Selen told him, 'here we are, still talking. I know you, Yamori. You didn't sign up for the abomination our people are becoming. Whether or not you and I disagree on just how the elite should comport themselves is now irrelevant. You're a purist, you always have been. This mechanisation strikes at the very heart of everything you ever fought for.'

He walked over and grabbed the bars in bleeding hands. 'I don't have too many options, do I? You can't get this thing out of me, so my other option is -what? A lifetime behind bars, afraid to fall asleep in case I never wake up in control of my own body again? I'd probably prefer to put a bullet in my own brain before I agreed to that. So, yes, you can have your sacrificial goat. I'll do what I can to put a spanner in the works, and failing that - leave a channel open, I'll get word to you if I can.'

He leaned wearily against the bars, his head resting on them. I pulled a small holo projector out of my pocket and set it down out of his reach, but within viewing range. One tap turned it on. 'If it helps, there's someone who might be able to talk you through ways of holding onto yourself against the mechanisation, and perhaps against Hagan.'

Tochiro's cheery form appeared above the device, less than a foot high. We left them to it.

* * *

_Now..._

I took a long walk after the meeting broke up, feeling the need to be alone for a while. The transport took off during my solitary rambling, although I heard it rather than saw it through a sudden downpour out of a sullen sky which matched my mood perfectly. I didn't even want Kei's usual pragmatic support for once.

For a start, I bloody well didn't deserve it.

Even through the weatherproof leather of my jacket and flightsuit, the rain managed to get through. It wasn't nearly enough to wash away the guilt clinging to me right now. I didn't think anything ever would be. So I walked, increasingly soggy, water dripping off my hair onto my face, down my neck, behind my eyepatch and into my boots.

It turned out I wasn't alone. Approaching a small stand of trees, Selen was leaning against the trunk of one of them, looking just as bedraggled as I was. The weather, with a suitable eye for dramatic irony, chose that moment to announce itself with a brilliant flash of lightning followed a second later by a massive crack of thunder. Perfectly on cue, the heavens opened still further, the downpour turning quickly into a bruising, punishing rain almost as hard as hail. Not being quite that masochistic I took refuge next to Selen.

'Is this quite safe? 'I asked. 'Sheltering under trees isn't usually advised.'

'It's moving away from us,' she said quietly. Sure enough, the next flash was followed up three seconds later. 'You're avoiding the well - intended pep talk as well?'

'Ah.'

'They love us. Can't think what we do to deserve it sometimes, but there you are. One day the weight of the world on your shoulders in the cold, dark nights. The next, someone's on your case telling you they don't care how much you screw up, they still have faith in you. There have been days I've wanted to take Rei and shake him, scream at him that I'm not the person he thinks I am. That I'm not worth loving. I've done questionable things. But he just gives me that look...'

'The one that tells you to stop being a self-centred, flagellating, self-pitying arsehole and pull yourself together? Yeah. Kei has that one down pat already. I think they get on the job training.'

At least she laughed a little at that. Briefly. 'It's not just Yamori.' She said eventually, staring into the monotonous grey clouds. 'There was a time my sister and I were on opposite sides, and we came close to killing each other several times before we realised we had a common enemy. But this time, it feels final. I won't get my baby sister back, no matter what I do. And maybe Dan's right. Maybe part of this is my fault, for not stepping up back then and taking the crown. If I had...'

'If you had, from what I understand, you would have ceased to exist. There's no shame or blame to be dished out for not wanting to lose yourself. Dantetsu is military; reminds me of my brother in a way. The stubborn refusal to accept anything that isn't authorised, categorised or ordered. It's Promethium's way, isn't it?'

She nodded. 'Yayoi. Her use name was Yayoi. I guess you and I, we don't do orders. It's never that simple for us, is it?' She sighed heavily. 'But I think the universe needs both kinds of hero. Yours and Dantetsu'. A balance.'

'You should include yourself in that,' I told her. 'You inspire people. I've seen it for myself. Hell, I've found myself envying your calm and self possession when things get tough. Me, I still tend to react first, think later.'

She smiled at me. 'Funny. I was admiring the way you take charge and expect everyone to follow. You have a way of expecting people to stand up and do the right thing, and somehow, they do it. Even Rei remarked on it when we first met you. Your crew at first seemed to be lacking any respect for you, but when we watched closely, we realised you lead by example. It's a rare gift.'

The rain began to slacken off, and she pushed herself off the tree she'd been leaning against. 'Time to head back, I think. Our better halves will be getting worried.'

We walked back in a companionable silence. Selen left me on the edge of town to head back towards the raman shop where she and Zero had been billeted, and I made my way to the transport bullet on the outskirts that waited for me. Ali was standing in front of it, with two unknown young men at his side, both looking anxious and underfed. Anita hovered nearby, a stack of crates next to her being ferried into the hold by a couple of volunteers - resident giant Bob, and Sabu, one of our Heavy Meldar recruits. Volunteers might have been stretching it a bit - my new cook stroke quartermaster had a way with her that kind of reminded me of an old drill sergeant of my acquaintance.

Ali pushed his two new associates forward. 'A couple of possible recruits,' he said gruffly. 'Figured you'd want a say?'

I looked them over. Both very young; the oldest, a tall lad with skin the colour a a rich espresso didn't look much older than about twenty two. I put his companion - a smaller asian youth -a little younger. Maybe twenty. Both of them had gone short of a few meals recently, and looked a little nervous, but they held my gaze well enough, although both blushed when I dropped my eye to their clasped hands. But the stance they took was defiant, not defensive, which I approved of. Almost daring me to make something of it. A touch of bravado there, I felt. But again, anyone who wanted to stand up for what they cared for was okay by me. What the crew got up to in the privacy of their own quarters was none of my business.

'Names?' I asked, clipping out the word. No sense in looking like a soft touch after all.

'Mattias,' from the tall lad.

'Cài Qiān.' The asian youth bowed slightly, which I acknowledged with a brief nod. 'We wanted to thank you, for the chance...' he hesitated a moment, swallowed hard. 'We'd given up, on our own worlds. No jobs, no hope, no families. Didn't see much of a future, so when the transport showed up and they were telling us how it would be so much easier...'

'It was worse on board. So many people so miserable, lonely.. all gathered together. Then they took the people from Mistral, and we found out what they really thought of us. Just cattle.'Mattias said gruffly. He swallowed back a tear himself, wiped the faint trace away almost angrily. 'We found each other on board,' Mattias continued, giving his partner's hand a gentle squeeze. 'But if you hadn't given us a chance to get off, it would have been for nothing.'

'Happy for you both, but why join us? Why do you want to join the Arcadia? There's no easy life to be had. I just lost one guy not much older than you two. Had his whole life in front of him. Are you willing to jeopardise that?'

They looked at each other, and turned back to me. Again, it was Cài who answered.

'We talked it over. There must be so many who feel the same way, but if nobody stands up for them and stops this, they'll never have the chance. We want to fight with you.' Mattias nodded in agreement.

So young and so earnest. They seemed sincere enough, though if they were ringers, it would go badly for them. But I wasn't about to get in their way if they truly believed what they said. Few enough in these times were willing to stand up for what they loved and believed in.

'Ali. You found 'em, you get them sorted out.'

Anita bustled over at this point. 'And you can start with a few good meals, they look as though they haven't seen a full plate in a month.' She put a motherly arm around each youth. 'Ali my boy, you can give me a hand loading, and we'll get these two sorted.'

* * *

Since it looked as though my ride was going to be tied up for a little while, I called for a replacement; I was cold, wet and cranky. None of which did anything for my mood, so by the time I got back to my quarters, boots, gloves and clothes went flying and I headed for a hot shower.

Dried off I dropped into my bed without noting it was already occupied. Kei squeaked as I landed almost on top of her.

'Sorry,' I mumbled. I gave the sheets a tug so that I could shimmy in next to her.

'You're still cold,' she muttered. Before I could apologise and pull away, she nestled against my back and put her arms around me, her face against my shoulder. A gentleman might have done the decent thing and refused, but I comforted myself with the thought that I was a bloody pirate these days, and leaned back into her welcome warm curves, without a shred of remorse.

Besides, I knew where her hands would end up eventually, since she was pathologically incapable of keeping them still if she had anything at all to occupy them, and she did tend to let them wander with impunity, with little murmurs of appreciation, over anything within reach. If there were times I greedily preferred her to skip the muscles and move a little faster - well, I can be an ungrateful s.o.b. sometimes.

Why she didn't just smack me one when I caught her wandering hands and turned to face her, asking with a totally straight face if she'd mind turning round so I could warm my front against her back, I'll never know. But the little angel acquiesced without a word of complaint and I happily snuggled against a very nice full bottom and had my hands resting on nature's greatest invention for handwarming with a heartfelt sigh. Eventually I bussed the nape of her neck lightly, enjoying the scent of her freshly washed hair. Somehow it always reminded me of lemons and roses, even though the stuff she used smelt nothing like it when I sniffed it. I 'd come to the conclusion it was some alchemy that was all her. Which was the last coherent thought I had before sleep finally claimed me.


	15. Chapter 15

 

Waiting around for the transport to reach Lar Metal had never been an option. I didn't do well with waiting. Witness the caffeine withdrawal I'd had to go through after sitting on my arse for six months on Heavy Meldar, a seven mug a day habit of the master's tar-like coffee interspersed with a lot of running and some seriously stupid freeclimbing stunts. Arguably the adrenaline addiction wasn't going away anytime soon. At least according to those closest to me.

Grimacing at the enforced morning cup of de-caff, I announced my intentions to my captive audience of one.

'I figured we could take a detour to Mistral,' I offered over the rim of the mug.

Kei took it off me and handed me her fully caffeinated latte. 'Maybe I should rethink the whole de-caff regime. I think it's playing havoc with your brain. Because I don't think you'd have told me you plan on taking us into an occupied system where the SDF have been slugging it out with the dialheads if you were thinking straight.'

'If it gets me a proper cup of coffee, I might try it more often,' I muttered. I took a deep swig and swallowed slowly, savouring. 'And actually, it makes perfect sense. If we can liberate the planet, that's a win for our side. More importantly, there's a young woman about to go into labour any day soon who is missing a husband. If any pilots made it, maybe we've got a shot at finding him. If not... well, at least she'll know.' I looked into Kei's now empty mug. 'How come you get cinnamon? Anita never puts it in mine, plus even the fake stuff costs about the same as tectite...'

'Probably because if it ever got out that the deadly, cold-blooded, infamous Captain Harlock likes a cinnamon latte, we'd never live it down?' She answered sweetly. I huffed at her.

'Really? You're going there? Because I have it on good authority that the paint stripper _he_ used to serve up so he'd look like a hard case who likes his hooch straight out of the engineering ductwork was _purely_ for entertaining, and he always poured his own from another bottle - generally one topped up with a nice burgundy... Which, I might add, is such a great idea I might just steal it...'

She just rolled her eyes at me.

'Seriously,' I told her as we dressed. I picked up a gunbelt, realised it was too small and swapped with her. 'There's a real problem on that planet. The SDF got their asses kicked, and if the stories we've been hearing are correct, there was some seriously unpleasant business on that world. I don't like that sort of unpleasantness, and I'd be more than happy to dish a bit out whilst we're waiting.'

'Have you cleared this with Colonel Ichimonji? Or is this one of those 'we don't answer to the authorities' things?' She asked, pulling on a long black boot and zipping it up slowly, before repeating the torture with the second.

'No I haven't, yes it is, and despite that I _am_ going to talk to him, if only because I don't fancy fending off those cute little bricks they fly as well as dialhead ships.' I hauled my jacket on in my usual slapdash fashion, and had my fingers slapped away as Kei busied herself tying my cravat, and her deft fingers quickly pulled the jacket closed and buttoned me up into it with the same meticulous deliberation she used in getting me out of it. As she cinched my gun belt I cracked.

'You do know I can do this for myself?'

She smiled. 'Where would be the fun in that?'

I grabbed the Cosmo Dragoon and stuffed it into the holster. 'I have to get to the bridge and talk to that stuffed shirt in this condition, you do realise this?'

Her smile turned into a smirk. 'Think of it as a really good way to find your inner badass.' She patted my cheek and handed me an eyepatch.

'Revenge will be mine, tonight,' I promised her as I strode away, tying the black leather into place with well practiced ease, settling it to cover the burn scars.

'See, now that's the attitude I was hoping to see,' she called out as I left. I just growled, startling the bird who changed his mind mid air about landing on my shoulder, and flew for the safety of my quarters instead. But I did stand in the doorway and ostentatiously roll my sleeves up before stepping out fully, smirking to myself as I heard her valient attempt to contain an annoyed sigh.

* * *

Ichimonji was suprisingly on board with the idea. Although a full official cooperation suited neither of us, he wanted to scout the area for himself, and a little extra firepower never goes amiss. After giving Selen a heads-up, we departed first, figuring he could catch us up later. A week in transit, even for us, but it beat sitting around on Tabito until we could realistically depart for Lar Metal. The Arcadia didn't exactly do dawdling, and we didn't want to arrive before Yamori had a chance to get into play. That left us about three to four weeks of down time, and the crew didn't handle idleness too well. Tempers tended to flare, and I'd already had to quell one or two spats.

But travel time left me with too much time as well, and I couldn't fill it all with weapons and combat practice. I could at least hit the broadside of a barn with the sabre rifle these days, and my pistol targeting had improved, even if neither were yet up to my pre-one eyed standard yet. With Anita's approval I started teaching Zack some of the basics, at least for self-defense with knife and pistol, as well as a little unarmed combat. The kid was a quick learner, his initial sullen teenage attitude quickly dissipating with being treated like an adult. However I did have to wriggle out of teaching him to fly just yet, citing the size of the cockpits as an excuse for now. Defending himself in the event we were boarded was one thing. But I had my limits.

* * *

We exited IN space well clear of the system and coasted in. If there were any patrols in the area, we certainly didn't spot them. Mistral itself seemed quiet enough; too quiet, as radio chatter was almost non-existent. This in itself was cause for concern, because it wasn't a backwoods world. The capital city was a reasonable size, terraforming had been minimal as it was a natural Earth-type planet, and the agricultural produce they exported had once fed most of the sector, and paid for a well-populated, modern city with excellent infrastructure almost the equal of Mars' capital.

No longer.

Even from orbit, the view of the planet below was enough to shock the entire bridge crew into silence. We made a pass over as much of the surface as we could, and the sight that met us through the bridge window was backed up by the readings Kei and Ali took.

Mistral was a dead world.

The capital lay in ruins. If any buildings remained standing they'd been lucky, because the systematic, geometrically precise patterns of destruction had been designed to completely flatten it.

Outside of the city, the once verdant pastures and farmlands were scorched and barren. A few small areas had escaped the conflagration, again more by luck than judgement. Here and there a few animals roamed, but the herds were gone. Our scanners told the same story on all three continents. Piles of rotting corpses, human and animal, just left where they'd been slaughtered. A planet with at least five million inhabitants reduced to a pitiful handful lurking in the rubble of their dead townships, or occasionally in the few areas of forest that remained.

It was as clear an example of a scorched earth policy as I'd ever hoped not to see, and the mesaage it sent was clear. Lar Metal had just wiped out one of the few planets capable of supplying foodstuffs to the rest of this sector, and the knock on effects over the next few years were going to be disastrous on several worlds dependent upon those resources.

It was also a slap in the face for the SDF; see, you can't stop this. No-one is safe. Your military cannot protect you. Once news of this spread, millions would flock to the conversion plants - because - why wait around to die of starvation, when mechanical salvation is at hand?

'I'm going down,' I told Yattaran, Mimay and Kei. 'Anyone coming with me?'

Ali and Kei both volunteered, both looking furious. Kei and I took the fighters in case of trouble. I asked Ali to be on standby with a bullet, in case we could offer any humanitarian aid. Our two newest recruits were with him, still shadowing to learn the ropes. Both wore the same look of grim determination that the rest of the crew had. The reality of the situation was a kick in the teeth for everyone.

* * *

On the flight deck my black and red Space Wolf awaited, next to Kei's more subdued craft. Both of us were taking the precaution of wearing armour this time, and Maji was finalising the last tweaks to mine before we set off. Kei's elegant baroque brass suit needed no adjustments - the black undersuit fit like a second skin, being the real workhorse of the suit:a body fitting polymar of nibelung manufacture, I would have taken a bet that dark matter lay at the heart of it. The stuff was proof against most energy weapons, projectiles and blades. The brass accoutrements were just the power units, servos and air compressor. The actuators took their cue from muscle movements under the polymar, translating them into enhanced speed and strength when required, though this could be damped for the cockpit.

Apart from the plumbing, our suit designs were identical, taken from an old nibelung 'valkerie' design, or so Mimay had said. They were, if nothing else, a hell of a lot easier to move in than the lumbering 'diving suits' the crew used. Maji had done a great job with the bits and pieces he'd found lying around putting it together for me, and thanking him earned me one of his rare shy smiles. Hopefully he'd be able to put a few more together, now he'd had the practice. I hoped to get a couple of the crew into them - Ali for one, probably Dan for two, and Levary; men I preferred to have greater mobility in battle.

I swung up the wing and into the cockpit. Looking over, I saw Kei's canopy swing slowly shut, sealing with a slight hiss. I triggered my own, and went through the pre-flight checks. Green on all systems, we headed out, Kei swooping into the lead as we cleared the Arcadia's dark matter cloud and headed for the atmosphere.

* * *

I'd selected a small wood not far from the capital - or rather, what was left of it, on the grounds that we'd scanned a significant number of life signs there, and it made sense that cover, and a nearby source of supplies in the ruins to scavenge would be a pretty safe bet for any survivors. We'd also found a couple of ID signatures from SDF vessels on a coded frequency given to us by Ichimonji, so it was a pretty good guess that at least a couple of SDF fighter pilots had made it down in one piece.

We weren't wrong. I had to bank almost into Kei's flight path on the first pass to avoid a mortar that shot over my nose and exploded harmlessly above us.

'Did anyone think to let these guys know we were coming?' She yelled over the comms.

'I did broadcast the signal the Colonel gave us, but I'll try again. Could be they can't receive!' I came round for another pass, sighting a small group near the treeline. This time I signaled with the SDF wing-wobble to signify a friendly when comms are down. There was no attempt to bring me down this time, so after scoping a nearby field I told Kei to follow me down.

* * *

A group of five tattered, tired looking men came out to meet us. Their weapons were standard SDF issue pistols, one rifle of uncertain vintage and the biggest guy - who'd give our own Bob a run for his money - was carrying a battered rocket launcher that looked as though it pre-dated the homecoming war. From the remnants of their uniforms it was obvious this was the remains or part thereof of the crew of the Bellerophon. None of them looked as though they'd had a square meal in a while.

I kept my hands away from my sidearm and risked a cheery hello. They halted several feet away from us, weapons trained. One stepped forward - a short blond guy in his thirties, though under the grime and rough beard, it was hard to be certain. He did have commander's pips on his collar however.

'You don't look like machinners,' he called out. 'State your name and business!'

'Since I had the faster ship, I've come ahead of the Prometheus to see if there's anything we can do to help. I'm Yama, this is Kei. Our ship's in orbit.'

I'd toyed with announcing myself straight off, but with itchy trigger fingers facing us, telling a bunch of edgy recently ex military resistance fighters that I was a wanted pirate was pushing even my luck. Since I still had my old Gaia Fleet ID, I'd taken the precaution of stuffing it into a pocket and I offered it to the leader now, with my best smile.

'Special ops, huh? You're way out of your jurisdiction, lieutenant.' He handed it back though. 'What happened to your face?'

'Turned my back on someone I thought I could trust.'

He laughed harshly. 'I can see why that might ruin your looks. The woman?'

'Civilian contractor, originally, now my partner.' Kei sashayed to my side and offered her hand, which was taken firmly after a momentary hesitation. I guess the niceties had fallen by the wayside over the past few weeks. But her best charming smile worked its usual magic.

'Greg,' he offered. 'The rest can introduce themselves later if they want. For now, you might want to get those birds under cover. There's usually an aerial patrol...'

A flick of my hand engaged the optical camouflage circuits. The ship skins now reflected the ground around them. 'Won't stop a full scan, but if they do that they'd find them anyway.' I looked at the weapons trained on us. 'You know, you could put a couple of those away. Colonel Ichimonji will vouch for us when he gets here. He's at most thirty six hours behind.'

Along with Greg, two of them lowered and holstered their weapons, but the others kept theirs at the ready, if not, thankfully, pointed straight at us. Polite but careful. Better than it could have been. At least these were military, not former civilians, who might have just shot first and repented at leisure, if at all.

* * *

We trekked over the clearing, a barren field devoid of anything resembling life, green or otherwise. I stopped to take a closer look at the soil. The vegetation, or what was left of it, was dry and brittle, but not with the characteristic carbonisation I'd have expected from heat. This looked to be on a cellular level: the grass - a variety of one of the robust triticale hybrids that could handle non terrestrial worlds - crumbled in my gloved hand. I decided against handling it with bare hands. Something about it reminded me a little of the sights I'd seen on Earth.

I did kneel down and rummage with a gloved hand in the topsoil. Like the vegetation it had that strange, sucked dry look and feel, and although I dug down a good eight to ten inches, no invertebrate lifeforms squirmed away from the light. I'd need a proper analysis to be sure, but I'd bet good money I'd find no microbial or fungal lifeforms either - the essence of good soil was life. It had been sucked right out of the ground, leaving nothing but the shell behind. But Greg was looking nervous, and anxious to be elsewhere. I smiled an apology and let him lead us onwards.

He led us to a small clearing, protected by a thorny thicket. The guards at the entrance cut into the brush saluted, and let us through, albeit with curious looks. The clearing wasn't totally open to the sky - just a thinning out of trees, with gaps covered by camo netting. A few brushwood shelters dotted the area, each constructed to look as natural as possible. A few of the other inhabitants gathered round to look as we were led into the centre of the glade. All of them had the same underfed look, and clothing was dirty and torn. The smell was also pretty ripe, as bathing and washing probably hadn't been a priority for some time. In the time honoured tradition of placing the hearth at the centre of things, a single large stone circled cookfire lay at the centre of the glade. Near this was a larger structure, within which I could make out some occupied cots. A couple of young men sat outside, one missing an arm, the other sporting a seriously nasty gash across his face that had the telltale red threads of infection radiating from it.

Greg halted next to the fireplace, and gestured for us to sit, a couple of logs standing in for chairs. I sat, Kei remained standing.

'You say the Prometheus is heading here?' He asked. 'We heard they were several systems away. How did they find out about us? Is other help coming?'

'We intercepted one of the transport ships taking people to Lar Metal. Some of your people on board told us of the situation. Since the Prometheus was close, the Colonel took it upon himself to swing by. But since my ship's faster, we thought we'd come ahead. We have medical and food aid we can offer.'

'It's rare to see a Coalition officer out this far,' Greg said slowly, considering. 'Let alone a ship.'

I coughed uncomfortably. 'Well, about that..'

I was interrupted before I could finish by the young man with his sleeve pinned up. The remains of his jacket identified him as a fighter pilot. A captain. 'He's not Coalition,' he accused. 'I've seen his face on the wanted bulletins, and the girl. He's ex Fleet though. Now goes by the name Harlock.'

That brought the guns out again, but I sat quietly, not even attempting to draw. Kei had her pistols out though, and was staring our hosts down warily.

'Before you get your boxers in a twist about it, I was going to tell you, once we'd hopefully established that I wasn't here to be another enemy. Yama's my old name. I didn't lie. We are here to help, if we can. And the Prometheus is on its way. Ichimonji might not like my profession, but he does have a little faith that I won't screw him over.'

Greg looked willing to listen, but the hothead with the missing arm was about ready to blow a gasket. 'They're pirates, Greg. We can't trust a word they say. This one's the worst of the lot - they say he wiped out half the Gaia fleet in a recent battle, murdered their admiral... let alone what they're saying about how he was the one who destroyed Earth during the Homecoming War!'

'You're not that well informed,' I told him, a little pissed at some of the rumours seemingly doing the rounds. 'Yes, I'm Harlock, but the Earth - that was the guy who chose me to replace him. The Fleet was trying to kill us, the Gaia Sanction opened fire on their own fleet with a weapon of planetary level mass destruction, and the Admiral I supposedly killed was my own brother. And despite the fact that he gave me this -' I pointed to my scar and eyepatch, 'I didn't kill him. He died in my arms. So if you're going to try and get me shot, at least get your bloody facts straight first.'

He took a step towards me, glaring, but I stood my ground. Greg eventually called him to heel.

'Rick! Enough.'

Oh. Priceless. 'Rick? Laila's Rick?' I asked.

Regardless of Greg's restraining hands, he surged towards me and was almost in my face when he snarled: 'What do you know about Laila? My wife... she's dead. With the others.'

Kei moved forwards and having sheathed her pistols, touched his uninjured arm gently. 'She was alive when we left Tabito, Rick. Almost ready to go into labour, but alive, and well.'

He almost collapsed at her words. A friend caught him, offered a shoulder to lean on, whilst he stared at us, disbelieving. 'We saw the bodies... they took so many. All of the pregnant women. Children, the old and infirm. Gathered them up in the sports arena. Then...'

He couldn't go on, but he didn't have to, and the saddened, sickened faces of his compatriots told the story even if we hadn't already heard it.

'Laila told us,' I told him. 'She said she wasn't looking noticeably pregnant. They missed her, and she was put on the transport. Most of your people on the same ship were taken off on Tabito, if they wanted to leave. Some wanted to carry on to Lar Metal. I guess not everyone was forced on board.'

The leader, Greg, sighed. 'No. The mayor and several townspeople were more than happy to sell out. The rest of us didn't buy it for a second, and it got ugly. The Bellerophon was stationed here because of the value of Mistral to this sector, but we were one ship against six, and one of them was like something out of a nightmare. Black, coiled around with darkness that made you feel sick to your soul when you got close to it in a fighter. It was that ship which scorched the planet, after the Bellerophon was destroyed.'

Which explained the odd remains... dark matter. Despite my own proximity to the stuff, I really wasn't fond of it. The Arcadia aside, I couldn't help but feel that the universe would be better off without it.

'The mayor was my father,' Rick spat. 'I just can't believe he would have murdered his own grandchild, but he gave the orders. Said the machinners needed to make an example, that they couldn't take everyone, and to leave anyone behind to be a source of resistance...'

'Partly true, I think,' I said quietly. 'Mostly it was because if you take out the few fertile worlds in the outer systems, you can crash the entire supply structure for decades to come. We saw the devastation from orbit. Every town, every bit of cultivated land was destroyed. I saw your soil when we walked here. Without a proper soil sampler and analyser, I can't be absolutely sure, but I think they sucked the life right out of it.'

'Then why not just torch the whole planet? ' someone asked. 'They left the wilder areas alone.'

Chess players call it _zugzwang_. A forced move which leaves you just as badly off whatever move you make. The survivors could avoid these places and be picked off in the open, or huddle together - give them somewhere to hide and you could round them up or torch the sites at your leisure, because they'd run right into the safe havens you left for them all on their own. But I didn't say it out loud.

'Because any good exterminator always leaves a few behind so he's not out of a job,' someone else replied sourly.

'Partly true. They need living humans to power and support those machine bodies. Short term, they just need to reduce populations to manageable sizes. Long term, they can then come back and take what they want, then they need it. You'll all be so busy trying to scratch a subsistence living there won't be a resistance, or interstellar travel that they don't control. Isolated, desperate, and weak; that's the strategy.' It was blunter than I'd planned, but there really was no way to soften the truth. I let my gaze roam round the crowd, making eye contact. 'Some of us are making a stand. It might not be much, but it's a start. If nothing else we'll be aiming for that death ship.'

Rick had found his feet again. And his anger.'Pirates. What can you do? Cowardly attacks on those who can't defend themselves? A few raids on supply ships? Or stirring up a hornets nest in retribution against the rest of us when Lar Metal decides to make another example because you gave them a bloody nose? Nothing short of crippling their military will make the rest of us safe.'

'You're not safe now!' Kei snapped at him. 'They've already torn your world apart, there's not much more they could do to you. And it won't stop. Queen Promethium wants to see the entire galaxy mechanised. But if you think so little of us, maybe we shouldn't waste our time helping you? After all, we've got better things to do according to you.

Launching cowardly attacks on the regime that wants to turn you either into a cog, a sweet drug for the senses, or a battery. Stopping the transport ships taking your friends, families and colleagues - or more simply your fellow humans - to places where they'll be sorted according to the use they can be put to, and their bodies tossed into deep canyons on ice worlds, thrown away like so much garbage. Children lying naked in piles on the ground, bones broken, bodies twisted by being dumped out of a moving cargo ship from low orbit. If stopping that makes me a coward, I'll happily stand by that cowardice.'

He recoiled from her vehemence, visibly shaken. I didn't even try to stop her: she'd made more of an impression than my own studied speech had.

To my surprise though, Rick stood down, looking vaguely embarrassed. 'I'm sorry,'he said eventually. He offered her his good hand, and Kei being the good-natured sport she was at heart, shook it firmly, without a grudge.

'You're angry at yourself,' I said softly, not for general consumption. He looked surprised, momentarily, then nodded sheepishly. 'You were fighting, weren't you, when Laila was taken? You blame yourself. I've stood there myself. No hard feelings, it happens. But we came here because of her story, and we hoped to find you, if you were still alive. If you want, we'll take you back with us when we go. Our Doc thinks she's got a week or two to go...'

He looked down at the ruin of his right arm. 'Would she even want me back like this? I can't do much for them with only one arm...'

I glared at him with my one good eye. 'Don't make me flatten you, you idiot. You've got until we hit orbit around Tabito to get that self pity out of your system. If you're still wallowing then, I really will give you a pasting. We'll see how she likes two black eyes a split lip and a couple of broken ribs added to the package.'

He stared at me for a moment, a little dazed, wondering probably what the hell I was pulling. He must have caught my slight smirk, because he started laughing, and I joined him, chuckling.

'Pillock,' I told him. 'Now if you want a really good giggle, talk to her -' I pointed to Kei, 'and ask her what I was like when she first met me.'

He shook his head. At my side, I caught a resigned sigh from his leader. 'Seriously, Rick,' Greg said, ' you know damn well she'll be overjoyed to see you. This guy's right. Stop being a prat.'

The camp were behind him then, congratulations not stinted on for one of their own who'd lucked out in a nightmare scenario. With that out of the way, I turned to Greg.

'So, why don't we go over what you guys need before the Colonel shows up? I 'll have my people start with some supplies, and you and I and Kei can go over these aerial attacks. If the dialheads left some nasty surprises behind, the least we can do is get them out of your hair.'

I left Kei to liaise with the Arcadia, and followed Greg and his closest advisers into one of the larger shelters. It was going to be a long day.


	16. Chapter 16

'They have a base, the other side of the valley,' Greg told us, when Kei finally joined me. He hauled out a hand drawn map, not inexpertly done. He unrolled it fully, placing a mug at each corner to hold it down. 'But there's little we can do. They placed it slap bang in the middle of what they call a 'refugee camp'. Any attempt to storm it would be disastrous. I doubt we can draw them out, either.'

'Human shields.' I had to resist the urge to slam a fist into something. The trestle didn't look as though it could take it.

'Any way of sneaking in to get them out?' Kei asked. One of his men gave her an odd look.

'Upwards of seven thousand people? You people are too used to small scale assaults, aren't you?' He sneered.

I stepped in front of him, not liking the tone. 'It's still worth asking, be nice.' He took a step towards me, and I took two in his direction, closing the distance. I had an inch on him at most, and he certainly outweighed me, but after a brief hesitation he backed down, and I stepped back.

'There might be a way... if we draw out the machinners, thin the numbers out a bit.' Greg offered. 'But we just don't have the manpower.'

'You don't need numbers, all the time,' I pointed out. I looked at the terrain marked on the map. 'Sometimes you just need a good distraction and good positioning. Put yourself between your opponent and what he considers important and you can pin him in place.' I'd been looking at the map as I spoke. I looked up at Greg. 'The dialheads don't want your people. They won't rush to protect them. And although they are a shield, they're an unwieldy one. You can't move than many people quickly. You cannot attack that many people quickly. Not from the ground, and only an idiot attacks his own encampment from the air.'

Slow realisation dawned. 'If we drew most of them away...'

'... with the right co-ordination you should be able to take out the remaining guards, then defend the area. They've given you a pretty good defensible position, if you can take and hold it. But to do so you need to remove the artillery and fighter support. Once you're only dealing with infantry, you've got a chance.'

'It's suicide,' the belligerent one spat out, almost knocking his chair over as he stood. I stared him down again, and mumbling, he sat back down.

Kei took up the slack. 'It won't be without losses, but it might be worth a try. I'd hold off until the Prometheus gets here though. We can't offer you enough men and firepower to make a difference, but if you want to make a start taking back your planet, you need to send a message. And you need to clear out these encampments. If you leave a bolt hole, make sure it's one you control. But you might need to move fast, Yattaran's been muttering in my ear for the last few minutes. Seems there's and movement and it's heading this way.'

The rebels stared at her as if she'd grown two heads.

'She trained under one of the best captains in the Homecoming Wars, gentlemen. You should listen to her. I do.'

'That was a century ago,' said Greg, wondering. 'How...?'

'All those stories about the old Captain Harlock? Mostly true.' I told him.

He shook his head wonderingly. Then looked me up and down. 'Out of interest, how long have you been on the job?'

'You heard the broadcast about Earth?' I asked. He nodded. 'That was me.'

One raised eyebrow spoke volumes. 'You're a glutton for punishment, aren't you?' He said eventually. 'You could have walked away from all of this in that fancy ship I hear so much about.'

'Could. Didn't. Now, are we going to come up with something resembling a plan here? Before this lot decide to move in and flatten your camp for the hell of it? Kei, can we put Yattaran on speaker?'

* * *

The attack came in those darkest hours just before dawn. The Hour of the Wolf. I'd taken the later watch, Kei and I heading back to our fliers before dusk. I didn't recommend trying to sleep in battle armour in a cockpit. I'd only been dozing on and off before relieving her, wishing I'd gone back to the ship after all. When the proximity alarm went off, it was almost a relief. Yattaran's voice over the comms shattered what remained of the night's silence.

'Captain - three planes closing in on your location from the southwest. ETA maybe 3 minutes.'

I could see Kei already closing her canopy, lights flicking on her dash as she gunned her plane into life. I wasn't far behind her. On the radar, three blips were on the far edge of the screen, getting closer. 'Get me a full scan, I want to know what we're up against by the time we're in the air.' Changing the channel as I brought the engine on line I pinged Kei. 'Looks like they weren't kidding about those assaults. Get Ali, if he's not on the ball already, and make sure he and Anita get the resistance deep into the trees. Hopefully we can take out the trash before they get here, but one might slip through.'

'Stay on my left, as we practiced,' she told me as we leaped into the dark sky. I didn't argue, as having her on my blind side covered for my lack in that regard. We'd drilled this over and over during the past few months, until an outsider might have thought we had some mental link, we moved so well together.

Dawn was at least three hours away, and humans are notoriously creatures of Earth even after a thousand years of living in space or on other worlds. We are slower, more prone to night terrors at this lowest ebb in our diurnal cycle. We see demons in the shadows, and miss what's right in front of us. At least, that was my uncle's teaching, and he was rarely wrong on such matters.

What I couldn't miss right in front of me was the machine-like precision of the fighters attacking. If my readings were right they didn't deviate by an inch in formation; rigid, precise, deadly fast and hard to break. No human team however good had this kind of precision, making these either computer controlled drones, or, if you took the idea of mechanisation to its logical conclusion, downloaded straight into the planes. My money was on the latter, given the speed these planes reacted to taking fire. They moved at speeds no human pilot could have taken, even with decent inertial dampeners. Their reaction times were off the charts. We tag teamed the lead plane quickly enough as they didn't spot our initial dive from out of the rising sun, and the fighter was raked right down its spine and the fusion pile exploded before we could pull out and head back. A quick win, but it put the other two on alert, and damn, trying to get a lock on was like trying to hold onto a greased Martian sandsnake. I only narrowly missed a shot to my right wing, and the turn I had to pull nearly plastered my face into the cockpit canopy, even with the dampeners on. Gyros screamed in protest, but I managed to level her out.

'Draw them away from the forest!' I called out to Kei over the comms. 'I don't want several tons of metal raining down on the camp. Kind of defeats the object of the exercise!'

'Less talk, more action!' She replied. 'Haul ass for the plains, and head to the top deck. I'll be the bait.'

She was already slowing her plane, not too obviously, but making small, almost unnoticeable mistakes, as though compensating for a sudden failure. I dutifully headed upwards, careful to keep her in my sights. Predictably, both enemy machines followed the weaker prey. No imagination.

Clear of the forest, she put her space wolf into a diving spin, with a wing wobble that would have had me panicking if I hadn't known it was deliberate. Both machinners planes were on her six, going for the kill, and that was when I made our long practiced move, diving from above, blasting at them with everything I'd got. Kei pulled out of the dive a little less elegantly than I'd have liked to see, evidence that she'd left it a little late, but she was safe. One plane went down in flames, the second limped along for a few seconds before a looping attack by Kei took it from behind. It exploded in mid air, and I heard her whoop over the comms.

'Yattaran says he can't spot any more air support, but there are dialheads on the ground - looks like some kind of tanks in support of infantry. Couple of hundred bodies and six automated machines. They must really want this group!' She informed me. Her space wolf slid gracefully into place off my right wing.

'For a few dozen ex SDF pilots?' I asked.

'Think they want us?' She asked as we headed back.

'I really hope not. Get Yattaran to really sweep the area. All frequencies - Look for any other movement from machinners, especially automated ground support. The capital was always going to be a favoured location for any resistance. They left them safe havens to run to, and suckered them right into a kill zone.'

'Captain used to say a pirate never runs into safety...' she replied almost absently as she sent the message.

'Well even a stopped clock is right once a day..' I muttered. I linked in to Ali and Anita. They were holed up a couple of clicks away with the main group of combatants, and some creative cursing from Ali blistered the air when I gave him the sit rep. News from the Arcadia wasn't good. Infantry and artillery were heading straight for this location and two others within range of the city.

That was the good news. The bad was that they also had air support, more than capable of softening up their targets.

'We caught some chatter,' Yattaran had told us. 'Seems this is some kind of exercise. A testing ground for new tech. Only a handful of planes and tanks, but enough against these poor bastards.'

'Tell Greg to get any able bodies guys into the trees, ambush the bastards when they try to close in your position. Anita can get the rest to safety. Arm anyone who can hold a gun. We'll try to run interference and take out the artillery and air support.'

'What about the other local groups?' I heard Greg's voice over the link.

'The Arcadia can't be pinpoint accurate taking out ground targets. Our weapons are for capital ship, or planetary bombardment, too long range for ground or air battles. We'll send additional fighters to the closest sites. I'm getting Yattaran to contact the Prometheus as well, but even if they redline the engines they won't make it here before tomorrow morning. And we don't have the fighters to protect everyone. If you have any civilian areas under threat, give me the coordinates and I'll make them a priority.'

'Then get your asses out of here!' Came the reply over Ali's commlink. 'Your ex SPG sergeant Anita brought some pretty decent artillery. We've got civilian enclaves west and north of here. Ali here can send you the locations over a coded channel. We'll deal with this lot ourselves.'

'Dan and Lukas can take the north,' Kei offered when the locations came through. 'Our space wolves have enough power for about another two hours, after that, we need to head back to refuel and recharge the weapons.'

'Tell them to as much damage as they can. Prioritise the artillery. Take out their ability to...'

'I do know how this works, just see to our own targets!' Was the pithy response that cut me short.

'Yes ma'am!' I shot back, in a pitch-perfect bootcamp response. I might have just caught a muffled 'oh, grow up...' over the comms before she cut the connection and floored the plane in the direction of the other group given to us. A small township to the west, where a large group of survivors had been left behind by an overfull transport some weeks earlier.

* * *

The two planes we took out with relative ease, at least compared to our earlier encounter. The tanks - such a banal little word for a state of the art mobile artillery vehicle - were a little more problematic.

'I can't get a lock on!' Kei called out, after an uncharacteristic miss on her first pass. Her strafing run did at least scatter the supporting infantry. 'Switch to manual - I think they're jamming us!'

'I'm not getting anything on a full frequency sweep.' Sure enough, there was no sign of any interference with my targeting computer, but I trusted her call. I came in on manual for my own pass, and at least managed a hit on the lead vehicle, banking to avoid fire from its companions.

'Surprise number two, they've also got some kind of fancy armour. I didn't even make a dent in that one!'

'I'll take the next pass. Point the cameras and all sensors on them, maybe Yattaran can get something. I'll try to make it count.'

We switched places, and I pulled up out of her attack line, but laid down a little covering fire before she went in. Her pass nailed two of them, but despite a momentary stutter, they carried on relentlessly. Already the first wave of infantry had engaged the rebels, but we were getting low on power. Two of Levary's men flew in to cover for us, and we headed back to the Arcadia, hovering in low orbit. Kei gave a running commentary to the other fighters on her findings, still rapping out instructions even as she descended from her cockpit to the hangar floor.

'Did you get the footage and readings to Yattaran?' She asked, thumbing the control that rolled back her helmet.

'Better, my cockpit apparently links directly into the central computer. Tochiro should be liaising with Yattaran and Maji before we even reach the bridge.'

* * *

Zack handed me a plate of sandwiches, which I piled into whilst listening to the geek squad going at it. Not being an engineer I left them to it, trusting to someone to fill me in on the essentials once they'd thrashed out the technical details between them. Instead I hovered around Kei and Levary, who were examining the scans of the terrain we'd made.

'Tell me there's someplace close by we can lure these things. If we can't take them out by picking them off, I'd feel a lot better if we could round 'em up and flatten them with the oscillator cannon...'

'Given the power of those things, not a chance.' Levary grunted at me. 'Your point defence guns, maybe, but if you use the main battery against ground targets, the risk to the surrounding area is just too great. You'd likely wipe out half the refugees within five klicks, there's just no area close enough to the fight that isn't too risky.'

'And the point turrets are too unreliable in atmosphere. It'd take pinpoint accuracy, it's not like we can just do our usual spray and pray,' Kei added.

Levary snorted. 'Something your gun crews are going to have to work on, Miss Kei. The Arcadia's crew doesn't normally have to worry about collateral damage. You fight alone, and if there's a crowd it's generally all enemies. It's made you sloppy. In the kind of fights you'll be in now, you cannot afford to be so cavalier about who gets in the way. Your last captain let some bad habits form, and you will have to change, if you really plan on being the good guys.' He tugged on his mutton chops and gave me a hard stare. 'At least you don't have any bad habits to break, my lad. For someone who was considered a washout for a command position, you're not doing too badly, so far.'

'That's a little harsh,' Kei jumped into my defence. My father's old commander sighed heavily.

'Not at all. To be blunt, on any other ship, I doubt he'd have lasted this long before someone shivved him or shoved him out an airlock. I've known this lad since he was born, he's never had a mean bone in his body. His mother's son through and through, thankfully. But he was never cut out for a military career.'

'Hello. Also standing right here...' I pointed out dryly.

He turned to me to continue. 'What saved you initially is the fact that your first officer is a lazy s.o.b. and your XO here is brilliant, but underneath that prickly exterior Kei's as nice as you are, and she would never act against you. But you've managed to hold it together, and your crew are behind you for the right reasons, not because they're lining up to stab you in the back. Just don't blow it.'

'Prickly?!' It's a good job the old bugger had got his grandfatherly demeanour down pat. Otherwise she might not have been smiling and I might have needed to pry her off his throat.

'Concentrate, people. I need a plan. And fast. The planes will be refueled in about fifteen minutes.'

'Might have something,' Yattaran wandered over, Maji quietly beside him. Recently the two had almost been joined at the hip. 'In case it wasn't obvious, it's our old nemesis dark matter again. Like the skin of the Arcadia the armour plate is infused with it. Seems they _are_ using this planet as a testing ground.'

'Anything you can do to the space wolves weapons to combat the regenerative effects?' I waited as they exchanged smug looks between them. 'I'll take that as a yes. How quickly?'

'An hour. Maybe.'

Kei and I exchanged looks. It was too long; the rebels would be overrun long before then.

'Maybe not,' Levary interjected. He tapped Maji on the arm. 'Those machines in hangar twelve... a couple of old mining transports?'

'Ah. Use them for the ores for the planes and transports. Anything not part of the ship tends to need repairs. Just a couple of borers, no weapons.'

'Can you grab something off one of the old fighters and bolt it on for manual firing?'

Yattaran and Maji shared wicked grins. 'You'll need Ali back up to pilot the dropship that takes them. He's the only one qualified to handle that monster,' Yattaran pointed out. 'And those moles, come to think of it.'

Levary shared their wicked smiles. 'I can drive one of those old beasts if I have to. Just get that surly bugger back up here, and give me something to point at the enemy.'

'Kei?' I asked. She nodded.

'On it.'

I turned back to my crew. 'Well, geniuses, get those things down there to pin down those tanks, and then get mine and Kei's weapons upgraded. I'll get on the comms to Commander Greg's people and let them know we're coming.'

Kei sniffed a little ostentatiously. 'You could use the time to grab a quick shower... but so could I...'

'Hardly appropriate...'

Levary coughed. 'Take a time out, lad. Both of you. One of the top ten rules of successful leadership: let your people do their jobs, and stay the hell out if the way.'

I smiled. ' _Successful_ leadership, huh?'

'Don't push it, laddie. Go, both of you. I'll take care of the rebel liaison. Be nice to feel useful around here,' he said gruffly. I gave him a good long look. Yeah. He'd been relieved to have somewhere to go after the abysmal cluster fuck that had ended in his own government opening fire with a planet buster on their own fleet, and I'd kind of let it slide... but he was right. I hadn't really made much use of his talents, already having an exec. I nodded, hoping he'd understand.

'Go on with you, both of you. Take whatever rest you can grab, whilst you can.' He told us.

We went, but apart from a quick shower, neither of us felt like sitting around doing nothing. Kei busied herself with the footage from our fighters. Me, I headed for some lab space I'd found on my occasional wanderings. The computers there linked directly to the central computer, and I started off a few tests on some of the soil samples. The rest I put into sealed storage, to hand over to Ichimonji's people when he got here.

I was still setting up some of the analyses when Zack wandered in looking for me.

'Kei says you left your commlink behind... again.' He handed it to me. 'They're ready to go. Mom's still down there. Is she going to be okay?'

'Your mother knows how to take care of herself, Zack, I wouldn't have let her go down if she couldn't. She's quite something.'

He smiled proudly. I clapped him on the shoulder. 'Fancy helping me back into my armour?' He nodded.

'Kind of makes me like your squire, right?' He said chattily as we headed back.

'You've been reading those old stories my uncle was telling you about, haven't you?'

'He's cool, the prof. Even Em was listening to his stories, and you know how she is,' he had to skip a bit to keep up, and I slowed down a little. 'All about knights, and monsters and heroes and swords... you have a sword, don't you, captain?'

'Kind of, though it's a lot more hi-tech than the kind you read about.' We reached the lift to the upper hangar deck. 'And no, before you ask, I won't be teaching you how to use it anytime soon. It's also a high powered energy rifle and packs a hell of a kick. Besides, your mother would twist me into a pretzel if I did.'

He laughed. 'Yeah. She beat Ali arm wrestling last week. He's been muttering about payback ever since. Does he ever smile? He's always such a grump. Yattaran was saying he just needs to get laid, but he wouldn't tell me what that meant...'

Thankfully the lift doors opened before I needed to weasel out of that one.

* * *

'What's got you looking so wild-eyed.' Kei asked as, suited up again, we headed for our planes.

'One of those conversations parents have with teenagers coming a little earlier than planned, thanks to our first officer's big mouth. And since he's not _my_ son, I'd rather dodge this one...'

'A captain is father to his men...' she quoted loftily. I grinned evilly.

'Fine. So as XO that would make you logically their mother...so _you_ can do the sex talk with Zack then...'

She winced. 'I think we can leave that one to Anita. Do you want me to have a word about the guys toning it down a bit? They can be a bit rough, I know.'

'I've got bigger worries about having youngsters on board than a few rough and ready words, Kei. Since Eddie..'

She laid an armoured hand on the shoulder of my suit. 'He'd been with us since he was seventeen. But you know well enough out here, it doesn't matter how old or how young you are, violence can find you anywhere. Zack's safer on the Arcadia than anywhere else. Or at least, no less safe.'

I took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. 'It doesn't make the weight any less on my shoulders. But as you say, they're all my responsibility. Oldest and youngest. But here I am, asking them to put their lives on the line...'

'It's not a burden you need to bear alone. And they wouldn't fight if they didn't believe in what we're doing. These people need our help.'

'Even the ones who think we're just a bunch of murderous, thieving pirates?'

She grinned. 'How else do you suggest we tell them exactly where to stick their opinions of us?'

I grinned back. 'Did I ever mention I like the way you think?' She laughed.

'It might have got a mention when you could tear your attention away from more tangible things you seem to approve of about me.'

Since most of those were currently encased in armour, at least I couldn't be accused of letting my attention wander. But we were about to relaunch, and the time for conversation was over, for now. For the second time in a Mistral day, we headed back to the surface.

* * *

This time it was straight into havoc. Maji's jury-rigged anti-tank vehicles had done a nice job, and the wreckage of at least two was strewn in the wake of Ali and Levary, who'd also done a nice job of chewing their way through some of the dialhead infantry. It was left to us to mop up the rest of the artillary, and true to form, the new weapons performed almost flawlessly. Almost, in that they were a little too effective. After nearly getting the cockpit dinged by a piece of debris from my first shot, I had to dial back on the power levels and warn Kei to do likewise. White hot dark matter infused shrapnel was not something I wanted either of us getting intimate with.

We'd just about mopped up this wave, when fifteen blips popped up on my scanner, coming in fast. I swore under my breath, resisting the temptation to sag against the controls. Seriously, how many more fighters were they going to throw at us? I was just about to order Kei, Lucas and Carlos to join up, when a familiar voice hailed me on the secure frequency.

'Heard you'd bitten off more than you could chew, pirate. Want to stand down and let the professionals do their job?'

'The one we've been doing to cover for you, since you took your sweet time getting here, Colonel?' I was tired and long past caring how cranky I sounded. 'I thought you only carried a flight of ten?'

'Yeah..about that. Stopped off for reinforcements. I brought the Pandora and the Epimetheus. Take a break, captain. We'll catch up when we're done.'  
Another squadron of fifteen were already flying over head as he signed off. I breathed a sigh of relief. 'Kei, get the guys back up to the ship, and call in the ground troops. Tell them the cavalry just arrived.'

A little earlier than expected, despite picking up reinforcements along the way. I suspected Ichimonji had been holding back a little on his ship's specs, but I didn't really blame him. I'd do the same.

At least his deus ex machina entrance meant I could get my people back in one piece.

* * *

Greg hadn't been so lucky, nor over a dozen of his people. I pulled the makeshift shroud back over his body and straightened up. Anita had a few cuts and bruises from the sneak attack that had been launched against the camp, targeting the wounded. As Rick told it, only her fast actions in rounding up the able-bodied, and Greg's in getting back in time to catch a small squad of dialheads from behind had saved over a hundred people from slaughter. But it was a hell of a downer to what until then had started to look like a good victory. A timely reminder never to take your eye off the ball.

The Colonel strode into the glade with a couple of SPG gropos at his back. I didn't argue about his people taking charge. It was, after all, their damn job. The Pandora and Epimetheus, he informed me, would be finishing off here. Mistral wasn't saved yet, but it had a fighting chance.

I still had one job I needed to see through though, and it was a fairly easy one. I stood next to Rick as he stared across from the forest edge to the setting sun.

'Ready?' I asked. He dipped his head slightly in answer.

'I still want to come back, to rebuild. If Laila wants to...'

'I've heard worse plans.' The escalation of Promethium's plans and the increasing military force we were seeing did not bode well for a quick return, though. And Mistral... I stared not at the sunset, but the dappling shadows it cast over the dead fields. This once beautiful, green world would be decades, if not longer, recovering from what had been done to it, barring a miracle. But Nami's research promised hope, at least. I already planned on turnìng a copy over to Ichimonji, along with samples and Tochiro's initial analyses.

Right now, hope was the only thing we had going for us.

* * *

Back on board Arcadia, the only thing I really wanted to do was crash, preferably into my bed. Briefing Ichimonji could wait until he and his fellows finished mopping up below. Zack helped me out of the armour, and I didn't bother with a sweater heading back from the armoury to my quarters. Just carried it in one hand, my jacket in the other, and my gunbelt over one shoulder. Since I planned on dropping straight into bed, trousers and boots would do. It wasn't as though the sight of guys running around in their underwear - or less - was an unusual sight in the corridors.

Kei had got back before me, and and sitting at the desk, damp hair curling slightly at her shoulders, wrapped only in a towel. She looked up at me as I entered, but with a frown, not her usual welcoming smile. The sense of foreboding I had was reinforced by seeing Mimay curled up on the couch, her legs tucked under her diaphanous veils, a glass of white wine in her thin pale hand.

'What...' I didn't get much else out. The unnatural quiet was unnerving. 'Kei?'

'I think you need to see this.' She rose gracefully from the chair, moving aside to let me sit, but staying close by, a hand on my shoulder. The screen was showing the Gaia News Network, their unctuous female newscaster delivering platitudes with a vapid fixed smile. The sound was down, so I turned it up.

 _'...from the site of the new development announced today by the New Gaia Coalitio_ n.'

The scene changed to show a familiar plaza in the Martian capital, gleaming white spires soaring behind a group of men in the full ceremonial robes of the council. A weasel-faced little runt stood next to a tall, corpulent man with long grey hair pulled into a braid at the side of his head. Both had that piggy eyed supercilious self-righteous air that I always associated with the breed. The tall one did the talking.

_'The treaty signed today offers a new hope for all of humanity. In the past few months, since the terrorist attack on our beloved Earth by Captain Harlock, we've all been forced to face harsh truths. One of which has been that for humanity, the last hope we had of restoring our beautiful green blue world was brutally destroyed by a cowardly attack on the very machines quietly working to undo the damage Harlock did during the Homecoming War.'_

'You bald-faced lying toad!' I slammed my fist down on the desk. But he was already continuing.

_'...this new hope for all of us will remove forever man's outdated reliance on the fickle forces of nature. Since we first hurled ourselves into the void in search of new worlds, we could never shake off the shackles of our homeworld. Dependent upon nature, not science, for survival. And this atavistic dependence lies at the heart of all of our travails today. It lay at the heart of the Homecoming War, and it is the reason so many of us live in poverty, clinging onto life on worlds that could never be shaped to our needs.'_

I snorted. 'Like he's ever gone short of a meal...' Kei's grip on my shoulder tightened, and a warm tear fell onto my bare skin. But the toad was still talking:

_'...But today we take our first steps towards ending this enforced slavery of our bodies to the old order. Behind me, on the site of one of the most visible symbols of this outmoded attachment to the forces that have kept us chained for so long, a new hope will arise. Here, in the heart of the Capital, the Gaia council is proud to announce the construction of a facility which will free us from the bonds nature has placed around us for so long. Within six months these state of the art mechanisation facilities will be open to all. Nature will be irrelevant! Hunger, sickness... even death itself a thing of the past! Humanity will be free to pursue its destiny among the stars as it always should!'_

He and his cronies stood aside to the cheers from the crowd, to fully reveal the excavation taking place behind them, and slowly, stupidly, I recognised the buildings surrounding the rubble that was all that remained of the building their machines had flattened.

Nami's conservatory.


	17. Chapter 17

The beautiful, airy structure had been crushed completely, and the twisted wreckage for a moment gave me a sick flashback to eight years before, leaning on crutches, my head still pounding and wrapped in a bandage. Still dizzy from a concussion from a near miss with a crushing blow. I wasn't able to lie on my right side for weeks, I remembered, between that nasty dent above my temple and the damage to my leg.

It had taken days to put the fire out. The embers still smouldered. I wasn't supposed to be out of bed, but I'd had to see for myself.

It wasn't even the worst casualty of my foolishness. They still hadn't let me in to see Isora, and Nami... Nami was still in the ICU. As a minor, I wasn't allowed in without the permission of our guardian, and that... that was Isora.

There were no charred embers here. Only twisted metal, broken glass, rubble and soil. Soil and mud, the tattered remnants of flowers, pale, fragile colours amid ripped, shredded green. Masses of brown mud. Muddy flows from the water features...

But no broken bodies. Not this time. Only broken dreams.

'Don't cry,' I said softly. I turned to Kei, tugged her gently into my lap. 'It's just a building. Just a building.'

'But... it was so much more.' Her tears were quiet, not sobbing. I brushed a lock of wet hair out of her eyes.

She was hurting enough for both of us. For what was lost. For my loss.

My own eye...

Eyes...

...were dry. Although the damaged, blind one itched behind its black leather shutter.

'A symbol. Not just for you, but for all of us. All of humanity. All that beauty, wiped out, and for what? A statement? We had a chance, Earth, your mother's and Nami's research gave us hope, and they won't even try. And you're not even angry?'

'Harlock...' Mimay spoke up, but I wasn't in the mood for the wise pep talk. Not yet.

'Would you leave us, please, Mimay?' I spoke softly but she stared at me as though I'd yelled at the top of my voice. But she acquiesced, graciously, as always, closing the door behind her.

'I know it's just a building, not people. It was so beautiful. I've seen enough horrors out here to last two lifetimes,' Kei continued quietly. 'I'd never seen living flowers before. Not real ones, Earth flowers. So much beauty in an ugly world, and they just crushed it. They'll build a monument to mass insanity and death on top of it and call it progress. And they know. They have to know. This is as much a slap in the face to you as it is to humanity as a whole. And Nami's monument...'

I had my hand in her damp hair, holding her wet check to my dry one. Her towel had fallen down a while back, unnoticed. The fluttering pulse in her neck was matched by her rapid heart rate, beating against my chest.

'Why aren't you angry. Or sad. Harlock...?'

'I am.' I answered eventually. 'All of it. Everything you feel, I feel.' With my free hand, I pulled open the drawer in the desk. It held only two objects; Nami's last message, and the detonator for the oscillators. She turned to look, and let out a little gasp as I reached in. I gave her a little little peck on the cheek. 'Don't worry.' It was Nami's disk I picked up. I shut the drawer again. 'If you want to know just how angry I feel right now, I'll tell you. Angry enough to leave that damn thing in there forever. Because I don't feel like granting those fools the mercy of oblivion. If that's the world they want to make, I'll fight them all the way. But they don't get a quick death. Not from me. Not ever. If that's the world they want, I want them to live in it. And when it finally dawns on them what they've thrown away, what it's cost them, I want to be there. But every breath you, and I, and everyone else draws who wants to live free and whole on these worlds - that will be our defiance. I'm not _him_ , Kei. I won't walk away from the hard fight and take the easy way out. I can't just pull the plug on what we have as though it meant nothing. Never fear on that count.'

She sat up straighter to look me in the eye. 'Then why do you keep it?'

I shrugged. 'To remind me how easy it is to lose sight of yourself? To lose hope? To remind me that some paths are not worth the pain?' I kissed her cheek, tasting the track of salty tears. My fault? I'd shown her hope, beauty, light and colour in a world of darkness and despair, and in one move someone had crushed one of the few symbols of that hope. So easily. How fragile are the hopes and dreams we cling to?

Earth endured; nature endured; but delicately, tenuously, one small step at a time, moving back towards the light.

Like us, tiny lights in the void. Fireflies, all of us. Lighting the way.

 _My_ firefly, I would _not_ allow to be snuffed out. Not by _them_.

Not by _me_. I considered carefully before answering.

'If I'm honest, it's more because I have no bloody idea what would happen if I smashed the damn thing. It scares me half to death having it around, but I'm terrified of what could happen if I tried to destroy it.' I opened my hand to reveal Nami's disk. 'This is what will destroy them, eventually. The information on here. My mother's work. Nami's. Everything they stood for and believed in, and in their own quiet ways, fought for. With this, we can crack the terraforming problem. With this, maybe one day we can restore planets like Mistral, and Earth. Whilst we have this, they cannot win. Not in the long term. Harlock's detonator is a reminder of short sighted thinking. Of despair. This is hope. I won't let go of that. I can't.'

'Harlock...' She leaned against me.

'Hmmm?'

'Could you please not yank my hair out by the roots?'

I'd got a deathgrip on her fair hair, where my hand had been stroking it earlier. I winced, and relaxed my hand. 'Sorry.'

The absurdity of the exchange kind of hit both of us simultaneously, though the slight giggle she gave in response to my own wry grin was all too brief.

'Maybe I need to work on my presentation of an inspiring speech?' I asked ruefully. 'I guess I haven't quite mastered a convincing stoic delivery yet?'

She smiled into my neck. 'It might have been a little more convincing without the attempt to remove my scalp. But seem so calm - at least outwardly... I'd be swinging at something by now if it was me.'

'Haven't ruled it out. But lashing out without thinking is what got me into most of my messes. It's what destroyed my brother, and it's what tore Harlock apart. I won't go down that road. I've seen where it ends. I've got the means to destroy whole worlds and maybe, if Mimay and Harlock were right, the entire universe in my hands. That's way too much power to have and indulge in galaxy-class tantrums.'

She shivered, not wholly from the cold, I suspected. And she flinched slightly when my fingers brushed her newly healed scars on her side and shoulder. I shifted my grip to be able to pick her up as I stood. 'You shouldn't have pushed yourself so much, you're still healing. And you need to get some sleep.' I told her, carrying her to the bed.

'I don't need carrying,' she muttered.

'I know. But I need to do a little carrying. Indulge me?' That she didn't argue the point made mine for me. She hated being cosseted, normally.

'Not you?' She asked, as I covered her but didn't join her. I kissed her forehead.

'I'll be back. I need to see a ghost about something.'

Her answering smile was a little sad, but she always knew to give me the space I needed. I pulled on my sweater and headed for the central computer room. Tempting though it was to stay with Kei, I wasn't anywhere near as calm as I tried to project. I wanted to stay.

But a pirate doesn't run into a safe haven...

* * *

I had thought I was projecting a nice, calm facade, but judging from the wide berth and nervous looks crewmen I passed in the corridors gave me, I guessed I was kidding myself. Even Ali, never short of a sarcastic quip, opened his mouth, shut it again quickly, and walked on with a simple nod of acknowledgement. I didn't turn, but I could feel his eyes on me as I carried on walking.

Definitely kidding myself. Maybe all I needed now was that damn cloak.

The sanctuary that was the central computer room was a welcome relief. Somehow, in that gloomy, soaring cathedral, there was a sense of peace that felt as though the rest of the world never made it this far. Stopping at the door, a big 'do not disturb' sign hanging metaphorically from the rafters.

Mimay was draped over the swooping arcs of the conduits as usual. Somewhere up in the distant darkness of the upper reaches, I could hear the bird moving.

I took a seat near the foot of the massive tree-like trunk of the central core. The circular light in front of me whirled red, and I could almost believe I heard a heartbeat, pulsing in time to that eerie light. I laid one gloved hand on the trunk, then sat back, one foot resting on the raised 'root' I sat on, leg bent and arm draped over the knee. If I was aiming for casual nonchalance, I missed by a mile, judging by the reassuring little rumble that I heard just on the boundary of human hearing.

'That uppity metal queen's finally thrown down the gauntlet, has she?' Tochiro's mellow voice came from no particular direction. He hadn't bothered with the hologram. Not in here.

'You saw?'

'Couldn't miss it. She seems to think you're dumb enough to take the bait.'

'Six months ago she might have been right. I had a lot of growing up to do.' I straightened up, and took a deep breath. 'The temptation is always there though. It would be so easy, to just waltz right past their toy battleships and blast the bloody council chamber into little pieces. Too damn easy. But if I start.. where does it stop? We've committed to a fight on one front but I won't use the Arcadia against planetary targets. And honestly, they haven't killed anyone over this. Yet.'

His answering chuckle wasn't totally humorous. 'Welcome to my world. I built the Deathshadow ships as a weapon of last resort, to defend Earth, but when I had time to sit down and think about it, I realised they were only ever a weapon to use against humanity. Against ourselves. It never felt right. And I never expected Harlock to go as far as he did. Of all of the captains...'

'He betrayed your trust?'

That earned a slight cough. 'I hated to think of it like that. Disappointed, maybe. I... we - always hoped he'd kind of snap out of it if we just gave him space enough and time...'

'Yeah. That worked.' It came out a lot snippier than I'd intended. 'Sorry.'

'Ah. Don't apologise for calling it as you see it. You'd just better hope I don't flip out and start power-tripping on you...' The central light started whirling faster and the trunk lit up like a yule tree.

'Not. Even. Remotely. Funny.' I ground out. The lights went back to normal.

'Poor taste,' Mimay chided. The answering rumble was contrite.

I turned the little disk over in my fingers, flicking it across the backs of them in an old coin trick I'd once taught myself to amuse its owner.

'What have you brought me?' Tochiro asked.

'Nami's disk. I know I could have uploaded it from the captain's room, but somehow I needed to do this in person. There's a lot of personal stuff on there, and some encrypted files I haven't had chance to look into. But there's also a whole load of stuff relating to her work on alien biospheres and adapting Earth plants to them, and vice versa. Some of it piggy backs on the work my mother's team was working on. Her successes might be the key to solving the terraforming problems.' I placed it in a nearby reader. 'I want it out there, Tochiro. All of it. Wherever we can reach, I want it in the public domain.' I looked at it sadly. 'There was a time I hoped to be one of those making it work, but I guess that's a dream I need to leave behind. For now. But we get it out there, to anyone who cares. Where it can't be suppressed, buried, hidden or destroyed.'

'Your way of saying 'Fuck you' to the council?' His chuckle this time was amused. 'I like your style, my friend.' The disk disappeared into the machine. 'Don't let go of those dreams, though. They don't die so long as someone still believes in them.'

'Sounds like a quote.'

Another chuckle. 'Kind of an unofficial family motto. Our two families go way back.'

A long way back, a lot of side shoots and some seriously tangled branches, I suspected. 'One day, I might just sit down with you and ask you about that. A lot of information was lost during the war.'

'You might not like what you find,' he said soberly. 'But whenever you feel like turning that rock over, you know where to find me.'

'I know.' I stood. 'About turning rocks over though... those encrypted files. I untangled a couple of them, but I think they relate to others I haven't managed to decode. I think for whatever reason she was being very careful about how she saved whatever it is. Something isn't adding up. What I can't figure out is why she seems to have given this to me, not Isora. Whatever it was, it scared the hell out of her. And the date stamps on some of the files... they're dated eight years ago. And earlier.'

'The date of the explosion?' Mimay asked from her perch. I nodded.

'And others. I checked. Some of them are around the dates of news reports she'd saved. Scientists - a couple of high profile astronomers working on the Deep Time research project out on the galactic rim... archaeologists, biologists... even a colleague of my uncle's, working in an anthropological department on Titan. All dead. No real pattern, but it's odd. Most of them were natural causes, but there were some accidents.'

'I can check for a correlation for you. Yattaran can help. He enjoys a challenge - unless this is too personal?'

I thought about it, and then shook my head. 'I've no problem with that. Knock yourselves out.'

'Want me to work on the decryption for you whilst I'm on the case ?'

'I keep being told I'm surrounded by experts. I should make better use of them. Please. But we have other priorities, so don't blow a circuit on my account.'

I took my leave, feeling a little calmer. A little. If I could have got my hands on that bloated toad and his weasel faced sidekick, however, people might be rethinking their image of my 'nice guy' persona rather rapidly. But there were other, better ways to hurt men like that.

* * *

On which note I paid my first officer a visit. Yattaran was on the bridge, preparing for departure, when I caught up to him.

'Captain. Thinking of taking her out yerself?'

I shook my head. 'Nope. Have a little side project for you.' I dropped into the captain's chair and threw a leg over the arm, sitting kittykilter to him, and idly tapping the smooth leathery surface of the cloak that still lay draped across it. 'I figure it's about time we got down to doing a bit of actual piracy, but I've got a few ideas about the targets.'

'Ah.' He grinned evilly and rubbed his head. 'Saw that broadcast, did you?'

'Am I that predictable? No. Don't answer that. If hypothetically someone who recently hacked the Gaia network hypothetically kept a back door open, as any genius would... then...'

'Hypothetically, he could get the dirt on a few council members' holdings, declared and off the books...?' He folded his arms and looked at me over his thick glasses, that evil smile widening with anticipation.

My answering grin was likely equally malicious. 'If a few incriminating titbits of information also fell into the hands of a news crew or two... that would just be public spirited. ..'

'Heh heh, just be the neighbourly thing to do. But I take it we need to ditch the escort?'

I shrugged nonchalantly. 'Plausible deniability. What the SDF or SPG don't know about, they can't arrest us for...' I swung my leg back over and stood up. 'Some people just can't be trusted with nice things, it seems. I think we need to send a message of our own. Hit them where it really hurts them most. For them, that's their pockets and their prestige. I'm pissed, Yattaran. I'd like them to get a taste of what that can cost them. Oh. Pay special attention to the two in that broadcast. Especially the bloated warthog with the ponytail. He's also the one who visited Lar Metal.'

He whistled admiringly. 'Thought you were a soft touch at times, but you can be a devious little bastard, can't you?'

I slapped him on the shoulder, though careful not to make it too strong. I'd learned the hard way it was like slapping a brick wall. 'Thing about being a pretty little boy with big, innocent eyes? No-one _ever_ believes you could be a vicious little shit when pushed. Remember that captain who followed us out of the solar system right before we got ourselves into this mess?'

'Yeah. The _Mephisto_ , wasn't it? Hoshino? Took a week to shake him. Stuck up little jerk. Didn't seem to like you much...'

I smirked. 'Friend of my brother's. He made Nami cry one holiday. Trampled all over one of her favourite flower beds. One I'd built for her. Pushed me around for being his pal's cry-baby cissy kid brother who played with girls and flowers instead of guns.

Funny thing. He's allergic to cats. Badly. Hives, sneezes, the works. Shame one got into his wardrobe that weekend and all over his clothes. And his bedding. Had to replace the lot because cleaning wouldn't get rid of it all. Not that I knew about _that_ little bonus at the time. But no one could prove anything, and if he'd called me out for it, he'd have had to explain to Isora why I might have gone for him.'

'You didn't just get your brother to sort him?'

I snorted. 'And have him take the credit as usual? I at least _tried_ to fight my own battles. Mind you, it was Nami who found his weak spot for me...'

I smiled inwardly at the memory. She'd actually been the one to find a cat. Getting our own back had felt great at the time, although in hindsight, who'd have thought the uptight little prick would have held a grudge for twelve years? I hadn't seen _that_ one coming back to haunt me...

I dragged my attention back to the present.

'When you've got a schedule of potential targets, liaise with Kei. I'm sure we can find at least one short detour on the way back to Tabito.'

'Doing our civic duty as good, upstanding citizens?' He smirked unpleasantly.

My own answering smirk was probably just as feral. 'Just so.'

I hadn't exaggerated when I'd told Isora in his cell all those months ago that I'd learned from him. I'd just lacked the confidence to use most of it until pushed. I'd also learned harsh lessons about the futility of coming out swinging without thinking.

From this point on, I just had to hope I'd learned enough...


	18. Chapter 18

The little raman shop on Tabito was almost starting to feel like home, the amount of time we seemed to spend in it. After delivering Rick to an overjoyed Laila it felt good to sit down with friends over a good meal and swap stories. Though I decided to leave a few recent activities out of the debriefing with Zero and Selen. Courtesy of a certain toad, however, we were all going to be eating well for a while, even after donating a large amount of our cargo holds' contents to the local stores.

 _Very_ well. Given what she usually had to work with, Anita was in her element for once.

Pity Ichimonji had to spoil the fun.

'Am I really supposed to overlook two counts of piracy reported in this sector?' He bellowed, striding in through the doors with a face like thunder. 'Two ships, left drifting, totally plundered of all supplies. Sixteen men injured, both ships had to be towed back to the nearest station...'

Kei held out a bowl. The scent wafting up was delicious, and his long nose twitched. 'Oh, chill. We left them near a major shipping lane, with power for life support and their beacons.' She gave him her brightest smile.

'Besides,' I offered with a straight face. 'The insurance should cover it. Try the wine. Excellent vintage even for hydroponic grown.'

'No denials? That's it? You're just going to sit there and wave stolen gourmet food under my nose?' But he took the bowl, kicked a chair out to sit on and dropped his large frame into it.

'Well, it wasn't as though a kilometre long, red-eyed, skull fronted battleship trailing a dark matter cloud is... ' I clicked my fingers.., 'What's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah. Inconspicuous...'

Zero sniggered, turned it quickly into a cough.

'I've got the Gaia Council breathing down our necks over this, you do know that? Apparently both vessels were carrying supplies to the private worlds of two of the most powerful members of that congregation of vultures. It's not that I'm particularly pissed by you inconveniencing the Gaia Sanction's vultures, but doing it in my backyard is just damn rude.'

I buried my nose in a wine glass. I didn't dare look at Kei, or I'd have totally lost it. This was an unexpected bonus. I did like the guy, but something about his rigid regard for law and order always managed to get up my nose.

Zero stood up and made his excuses, heading outside. A moment later I heard his whooping laughter through the closed door. Selen tried and failed to look stern. I followed Zero outside.

He leant on the wall, wheezing and holding his side with his free hand. 'Would that be the payback you didn't elaborate on?'

I shrugged, leaned against the wall next to him, ankles crossed, arms folded. 'I was saving it. He's _such_ a spoilsport...'

'When I saw that broadcast, I thought you'd probably go gunning for them. I know how much that place meant to you...'

The street lights were only just starting to flicker into life as the sun set. A few people wandered the streets, but this was a residential area, there wasn't much traffic. 'I thought about it. This seemed more... elegant. Besides, I can put it to better use than they can. On which note, can your contacts move precious metals and gemstones quietly? The Arcadia is pretty much self sustaining, your group, not so much. Those bastards were shipping a small fortune out of one of the small mining colonies. Illegally I might add. Better it line our pockets than theirs.'

His jaw dropped. 'I'm guessing that won't be on the manifest they give the SDF?'

I grinned. 'Doubt it. Thought about just dumping it... but there are a lot of displaced people out there, and you lot can't just steal what you need. You might however not want to tell Ichimonji about that part though.'

He smiled. 'Probably not. Seems appropriate, somehow, using their own food and funds to help the people they're screwing over.'

'Doesn't it just?' I took a deep breath, savouring the night air. 'You might want to quietly inform the colonel about conditions on those mining worlds though. Yattaran got a look at the logs. Let's just say I had good reason not to be too lenient to some members of those crews.' I passed him a storage disk. 'If he asks, tell him it's from a civic minded citizen.'

'He'll know,' he said, pocketing it.

'But he'll be able to deny it with a straight face. Which is all he needs to go after them without too many questions he'd have to lie to answer otherwise.'

'You really know how to do a number on someone who crosses you, I'll give you that,' he said admiringly. I shrugged again.

'A pirate's way isn't always about shoving a gun in someone's face. With men like this, it really is a public service to humiliate or expose them. Shooting would be too quick. Though I had to hold Ali back... seems he has a past that makes him a little sensitive to exploitation of that kind. He did get a little enthusiastic with a couple of guys. But remind me after this is over, to show you what else we took that they _won't_ be reporting to the authorities. .. talk about hitting the motherload...'

Any further discussion was cut short by a small, speedy human cannonball almost taking me out at the knees. I managed to stop myself from being bowled over, and picked Tadashi up. 'Whoa there, tiger. You're a little young for the rugby team tryouts!'

He giggled. 'Mom said you were back. I ran all the way over. Is Kei here? Is she better?'

'She's here, inside, and looking forward to seeing you, scamp. Does your mother know you're out?'

From the brief guilty look, that was a 'no'. I sighed, and put him down. 'You go and see Kei. I'll make sure your parents know you're safe.' Another heavy sigh as he bounced away into the shop. 'I swear, that kid puts years on me, and I'm not even responsible for him.'

'Yes, you are,' Zero pointed out seriously. 'If you weren't you wouldn't give a rat's fart what he got up to. The professors found a place a couple of streets away. I'll take you. '

From inside the shop came the sound of excited childish laughter and I peeped in briefly to see Tadashi squirming from Kei's lap to Selen's, both women smiling at his antics. Zero grinned at me.

'It's sweet, isn't it? Right up until they get that look in their eyes that tells you they'd really like a couple of their own...' he gave a mock shudder. I rolled my eye at him.

'From the guy who was giving him piggybacks before we left ?' I snorted. 'I'd have thought it would be Selen running for the hills, not you, so don't try and kid me you haven't given it some thought.' As we walked in in companionable silence, I added: 'Mind you, if he carries on getting away with sticking his nose into places he shouldn't and being that free with his hands when he's older, he's liable to get shot. Cute clambering all over your girl when he's six; competition when he's sixteen...'

He laughed. 'I don't think he'll grow up to be that devious. He's a sweet kid.'

'So was I. Once. Hopefully he'll never need to be anything different.'

* * *

The professors had found a small house off the main roads, one of several properties lying empty since Tabito's mines had started petering out. The recent influx of refugees from the transport ship had brought some life back to the town, however. Lights were on in windows, and the few people we passed showed little interest in a couple of spacers wandering round. Thankfully the local police chief had little interest in putting up wanted posters.

The professors were happy to see us. I reassured them of their offspring's safety, and promised faithfully to have him hand-delivered back within the hour. But we had other matters to discuss. Not least of which was news from Mars.

'We spoke to friends in the bureau,' Hiroko told me. 'There was little warning, but they were able to save some of the off-site seed storage. The council was more interested in shutting down the public face of the research, they didn't pay much attention to where the real work was being carried out.'

Tsuyoushi cleared his throat. 'Funny thing though. The two councilmen responsible for pushing this through were almost killed in an attack on their respective homes later that week. They're blaming you...'

I snorted. 'I don't have that much reach. I suppose I should be flattered, but they must have pissed off more people over this than me.'

Hiroko leaned over and patted my hand. 'We know, dear. That's not your way.'

'I never said I didn't think about it. But I think you'll like my solution a little better.' I nodded to Zero, quietly sitting in a corner. 'Zero here can make the arrangements, but I believe you both wanted to take up your research on Niflheim again?'

'Yes, but the funding...' Professor Daiba began.

'Won't be a problem... anonymous donor.' Zero deadpanned.

The professor coughed. 'I think you should perhaps refrain from elaborating.' But he did slip me a wink.

'When you go, I'd like you to consider an escort. Selen and Zero should be able to locate a couple of likely lads who can provide a bit of assistance on site as well as a bit of muscle. I'd just feel happier knowing you had a little security in place.'

'Do you really think we're at risk?' Hiroko asked, alarmed. I tried to reassure her.

'Just a precaution, but a couple of your colleagues have died or disappeared in mysterious circumstances lately. Might be nothing, but I'd prefer to err on the cautious side.'

I didn't mention that whilst they were on Tabito, they already had a discreet bodyguard. With the Council, the machinners and the possible third player, there were far too many interested parties around who might wish them harm, even without their family connection.

I had a small package of theirs to return, however, so we took our leave. And there was more more item to take care of before we left for Lar Metal...

* * *

The oscillator was nestled in a valley off to the north. Ali and I took a workboat down to fetch it, and though I wasn't too fond of the idea of bringing it aboard, there wasn't much choice, since the scaffolding that that held the array was long gone, lost when we'd crashed on Earth.

'Sure about his, cap'n?' Ali asked, as we detached the lander from the oscillator. It sat in the largest hangar, on a railed platform that could be quickly dumped out of the hatch in an emergency. 'I kinda hoped we'd seen the last of these things.'

'We're up against Nibelung tech that might even be better than ours, Ali. An ace in the hole won't hurt. Besides, unless it's armed, we're safe enough. These things were designed not to go off unless their own detonators are used. At least, that's what our resident engineers tell me...'

He looked over to where Maji and Yattaran were leaning on a gantry above us, looking down at the proceedings with interest. 'Yeah? So how come we're handling this thing, not them?'

'We're showing them how to do it right so they can do the other ninety nine..'I quipped. Ali sniggered.

'Serve 'em bloody well right if that were true, lazy buggers. Oi! Any time you two 'experts' feel like lending a hand!'

'It's perfectly safe, ladies,' I added. 'Assuming you still think you can customise it?'

Yattaran stomped down in his usual heavy footed fashion. 'Not so much about customising, as about focus. If we could get this close to the Phantasm...'

'Or rather, lure the scary ghost ship close enough to it, and blow it to hell...' Ali corrected him. 'Yer really want to use it as a mine? Coz that means leaving it armed and hoping like hell nothing else blunders into it. Try and get too fancy with this kind of ordinance, and we all end up in pieces.'

'It's an option, but that's not what we planned,' I told him. Mind you, it was something worth keeping in mind... 'If Yamori comes through with the location of those rings, this thing gets shoved right down their throat. It might be the only thing that can knock them out of sync.'

'And if the little prick lets us down?'

'You get to stuff it right up Loki's arse.'

He grinned evilly. 'Cap'n, you say the _nicest_ things...'

* * *

'We should have picked a couple more up,' I fretted to Kei later. 'Though I'm not sure everyone would be too happy about having more of them on board. Hell, just one gives me the creeps.'

'We can't even deploy it in an inhabited system,' she pointed out. 'If we use it, it has to be well outside of any shipping route as well. These things completely warp the space around them when they blow. At least, that's the theory. Our best shot would be to get a lock on the direction that signal will be sent, then even if we can't blow the hyperspace rings...'

'We make the space between two of them unusable. Disrupt the signal. I know, I get it.' I dragged my fingers through my hair, which was starting to get unmanagably long. 'Playing this many long shots I ought to take on the casinos on Grand Technologia.'

Selen had said to give Yamori another five days, before we took off anyway. Maybe just taking out the antenna on Lar Metal would be enough, even if it just gave us time to find the machine. Maybe.

As it happened, he came through with two days to spare. News that his transponder had not moved in forty - eight hours from a spot close to the facility had come in pretty quickly, which suggested that he'd been successful to that point at least. With all the horror that implied.

If not for having living -after a fashion - proof that such things were possible with our own resident ghost in the machine, I'm not sure I could have bought into the idea that a person could survive as some kind of machine, or part of a mass of similar victims, all targeted at controlling different parts of the whole. That Yamori seemed to have gained access to some of the information required was the best news I'd had in a while. But his information was limited by his own admission, and from Zero's viewpoint at least, a worrying wrinkle. But we had something, at least. I could only hope it was worth the price.

I'd never know exactly what he'd had to go through. That's one story I wasn't privy to. In the nights it took to travel to our final destination, I woke up at odd hours, sweating and shivering, imagining standing up in the middle of a mass of dispirited refugees, deliberately drawing the attention of the guards, kicking and screaming and fighting every step of the way to... what? What happened in those clinically precise rooms Zero and I had not seen inside of, where a soul could be removed from the flesh to become -what? A nail, a screw... a cog? Pieces of the machine. I knew it was more advanced than that, but my subconscious saw it more simplistically.

'It could be a trap.'

Ali for one didn't shy away from what most of were thinking, if we were completely honest with ourselves. Kei had leaned against her station, arms folded, waiting. Mimay refused to meet my eye, and Yattaran simply nodded his agreement with his taller, grumpier comrade in arms. The only living soul on the bridge gantry who didn't care one way or the other was the bird, and that just sat on my shoulder, preening in avian disdain for the antics of the strange humans.

'If it is, it's a risk we have to take,' Selen replied. Her hologram hovered between me and the captain's chair. 'They are too close to completion. If that signal is sent, we've no idea what the consequences could be.'

'Do we have a destination for that signal yet?' I asked. She stepped aside and the hologram changed to show a representation of an area of space, a distinctive nebula shaped like an hourglass, but one I wasn't familiar with.

Yattaran was.

'The Hourglass Nebula?'

I stared at the 3d rendition as it rotated in front of me. It truly was a thing of beauty, a double cloud of expanding gases and new born stars. The last place you'd think to look for a gateway into darkness.

'It's right on the edge of known space,' Tochiro added, his hologram hovering on the fringes of our small gathering. 'It's so far out even the Arcadia would take years to reach it, without some serious modifications to our drives. No wonder he needs to boost and accelerate the signal through a hypergate network. Using the number of gates Yamori tells us he has, Loki's signal could take at least five years to get there. Even then, the chance of severe signal degradation means he'll have to keep the signal going for weeks at the very least. The power requirements are so off the charts, I'm not sure even the Arcadia's engines would be enough.'

'They would be, if he already had a dark matter engine,' Mimay said softly, sadly. She glided forwards. 'Selen, would you please send the images of the machine you had from Yamori?'

The holographic display changed again, this time to show a peculiar cats - cradle of a structure in deep space. No living habitats, but plenty of what looked like power banks of the conventional type, and maneuvering thrusters. But in the heart of it glowed a blueish white globe, surrounded by panels of tectite.

'Magnify it please.' Mimay whispered. The image became more detailed as it zoomed in. 'More. More. More.'

Close in, it was easy to make out the massive machine which looked like the one behind us, gigantic pipes soaring out from a central core. And in the centre of that globe, a small humanoid figure could be seen, curled around herself in a foetal position, her arms wrapped around her legs, small breasts pressed into her thighs, she was curled so tightly. The blue skinned woman with short pale blue-green hair was screaming in silent agony.

'Verdani.'Mimay whispered. 'She was the controller for Deathshadow 2.' She bowed her head to hide her tears, unsuccessfully. Or maybe to hid her shame. It was hard to tell.

'Can we get her out?' Kei asked. She went to the alien woman's side and placed an arm around her shoulders. Once so distant, Mimay accepted the embrace.

'No. Once one of us has been fused with the dark matter machines, there is no escape. She is a part of it now, as I am part of the Arcadia.'

'But you... you're not... like that?' Yattaran looked shocked, and faintly ill. 'She's screaming, fer cryin'out loud. You... did what happen...' he trailed off.

Mimay shook her head sadly, causing her fine hair to ripple across her shoulders as gauzy as her veils. 'I choose my fate, to save Harlock and Tochiro. I am part of the Arcadia until it dies. Verdani... she could only be inside the machine like that if she had been forced into it. I do not know where he found her, but she did not go willingly into the machine. Our bond with the engines is supposed to be a partnership, a song of beauty. What Loki has done is... akin I suppose to rape. Of mind, spirit and body.' Her tears fell freely now, and I joined Kei in comforting her, laying a hand on her shoulder, then lifting her face to stare into her eyes.

'Show us how to put an end to her suffering, Mimay. If we can, I promise you, we'll try.'

I met that catlike gaze steadily, and eventually she nodded. 'So be it.'

'Yattaran, Kei, Ali, Maji. .. with me. The rest of you know what you have to do. Make ready for departure.'

* * *

The job was going to have to be done by an ace pilot, and a crack gunner. Which meant it was not, yet, a job for a guy who'd only been flying for just over a year.

'It'll have to be Kei and Ali,' I said resignedly. I truly didn't like the idea of Kei flying into that superstructure, but in all honesty, no-one else could. Kei gave me a reassuring smile, but I still felt cold inside at having to send her on this.

'It'll need to be a bullet. Never fly a space wolf through that superstructure. The wings...'

'I can fly it through, ' Kei told him a little testily. 'I'll need the manoeuvrability. I won't get that with the bullet. It'd be like trying to thread a needle with a brick. It just means we'll be a bit cramped in there. You can get a gunner in behind the pilot, but it'll be damned tight.'

'What about targeting?' I asked. 'And you're going to need pinpoint accuracy, as well as firepower.'

'Heads up display,' Ali offered, looking at Yattaran, who nodded. 'Can we use one of the modified cannon from the battle on Mistral?' He continued. 'We've already tested them against dark matter enhanced armour. If that thing's protected by something similar to that, it's the only thing that can cut through. '

'We'll modify it in flight,' Yattaran offered. 'Been a while since you've shot from a moving platform, you sure you're up to it?'

Ali gave him the finger. 'I can handle my weapon, you fat bastard.'

'Yeah. That's what they say below decks,' the first mate sniggered.

'Oh, stop it, the pair of you,' Kei snapped at them before I could step in. 'Like a pair of schoolboys.'

'Go over the footage with Mimay,' I told Ali, trying to keep some kind of order. 'Make sure you know exactly where to strike. And in the right order. Miss and that thing takes all of us out, which might get the job done, but isn't quite what I had in mind.'

'The timing will have to be almost perfect,' Mimay added softly. 'Too slow, and the dark matter engine has time to repair the damage. You will only get one realistic chance at this.'

'I can hold her steady,' Kei assured her.

Mimay stepped forwards, toward them, her hands held out in front of her. 'You must shoot true,' she begged of Ali. 'Once the dark matter containment fails, you must aim true. Verdani is in great pain. She will falter when you sever the final link. But if you hesitate, she will have time to begin remodulating the fields. She's a part of the machine, and it will defend itself.'

A little gruffly, he growled 'I can zap a truer line than any guy on this ship. I won't miss.' But for once, he wasn't being a dick. When she took his hand in hers and smiled her thanks, he actually blushed.

'We have three days to get there. I'll liaise with Selen. She'll take the ground assault with the Millennial Thieves. The Prometheus will back them up.'

Three days. I could envy commanders from the days when we only had one solar system to navigate. There was always too much downtime for my liking. Too many nights to wake up in a cold sweat, lying in bed going over and over in my head everything that could go wrong.

* * *

Kei ran her hands over my bare back, her fingers tracing the lines if the scars Yamori's force whip had left on it. 'You still feel guilty about asking him to do this? In spite of everything. He was no innocent even before he was possessed.'

'Does it matter? I still sent a man to his death. He just hasn't stopped thinking yet. ' I sat on the edge of the bed, my feet touching the floor, cool to the soles of my feet. The sheet was bunched in my lap, where my hands had clutched it, and my hair lay damp with sweat on my neck.

'He agreed to go. He could have chosen not to.' She laid her face against my shoulder blade, warm, soft. She wrapped her arms around my waist, holding me close.

'Zugzwang. A forced choice. He'd never have been free again, and sooner or later that thing in his head..'

'You think this makes you like your brother? Is that what's eating you? I doubt he lost any sleep over manipulating you into volunteering for a one way trip.'

'I also have to send you out on a difficult mission as well, remember? And stand at that bloody wheel pretending I'm okay with it. If this is a trap...'

'Then we'll be ready. Selen and Rei will handle that antenna array, and if we can knock out that machine, the only thing left to worry about will be the mechanisation programme. No hidden agendas and alien conspiracies from the dawn of time. Just plain old human greed and selfishness. I like the sound of a simpler universe.'

So did I, but the chances of finding one had been falling since the day I'd set foot on board this ship, and I said so.

Kei smiled. 'Well there's your problem right there,' she told me, shimmying round to sit on my lap. 'As I recall when I hauled you up, you landed on your ass.'

With the universe's impeccable timing for ruining my love life, however, the Arcadia chose that moment to drop out of IN-SKIP and into normal space.

'We're early!' I dragged on some trousers and hauled my boots on. 'Tochiro?' I opened the commlink on my jacket as I grabbed it.

'Ah. Sorry about this. We had company, I thought it would be better to drop out early. I think they overshot us.'

'Were they following us?' Kei asked, reaching for her sweater.

'Without a beacon?' I still remembered the trouble we'd had shaking the Mephisto until we'd found the culprit attached to one of the Oceanos' breaching tubes left behind inside a bulkhead.

'Well... Nibelung ships can track dark matter...' he sounded a little put out, but I figured a century of complacency could catch up after a while.

'Wonderful,' Kei muttered, echoing my own thoughts. 'Did no-one think to warn us?' She handed me my gunbelt.

'Don't be silly. Mimay would wither away without a regular diet of guilt-ridden, last minute dramatic revelations, ' I growled out. We sprinted for the bridge, both of us still pulling jackets on as we bounded up the stairs.

* * *

Ali took one look at the pair of us, sniggered, and held his hand out to Yattaran. 'Pay up!'

A slip of paper changed hands, Ali looking smug, Yattaran decidedly surly. I looked from one to the other.

'Okay... what's going on?'

'Chores list.' Ali smirked. 'I get to pick what jobs he gets to do for a week.'

'A bet?' Kei asked with a sigh. 'I'm almost afraid to ask...'

Neither man could meet her cobalt gaze.

'Whether or not the two of you would have been... well, you know... when we dropped out of IN-SKIP...' Carlos called up from below. Faster than I could move to do something similar, Kei leaned over and yanked the flimsy from Ali's hand.

'Hmmm...' she made a show of studying it, then beamed at the miscreants. 'Nice list. Add cleaning out the heads on deck eleven, and I think the pair of you will be gainfully employed for the next few days of downtime we get.'

'Oi!'

'Captain!'

'I'm the bloody first mate, you don't order me...'

I cut Yattaran short. 'Yes, she does. Now both of you shut the hell up and get to your stations before I decide to add the turret coolant sluices to that list.' To Kei, in a whisper. 'How the hell does he know?'

Ali overheard. 'Seriously - firstly, you two are _always_ at it, and secondly, he hasn't figured that out yet and still thinks the pair of you have some self control.' He dodged the balled up flimsy Kei chucked at his head with practiced ease. I made a mental note to fetch it later and add those sluices, as I strode forwards and took hold of the helm with what, by now, was a firm, instinctive grip.

* * *

We'd exited a few hours away from the machine, and cut engines to coast in on residual momentum, trailing only a few wisps of dark matter as the engines shut down. Although not strictly necessary it seemed to induce a need for silence among the crew, the usual banter and good natured ribbing dying away as we looked out into the empty space ahead.

There was no trace that we could find of the Phantasm. If it had overtaken us or passed by in IN-SKIP, presumably that was by pure chance. Or not. Either way, there was nothing we could do until it showed its face.

The sensors showed us drifting closer to the machine, with almost painstaking progress . In actuality, the wait wasn't that long, but in the artificial silence of the bridge, it began to feel that way.

* * *

When the thing was finally within range, I had my first real look at the structure from outside. Yamori's viewpoint had been from somewhere inside the thing, but now we saw it clearly for the first time. A wheel of eight curved pitchfork-tipped spines, radiating out from that blue flame wreathed globe in the centre. In between each of these were webs of smaller spikes, and in truth the machine was more of a sphere than a wheel, but from our perspective the main superstructure had a familiar shape.

'Ægishjálmur...'I breathed out loud. 'The countenance of terror...'

'Huh. So that's what that carving meant?' Yattaran leaned forwards as he spoke as though the extra foot or so would give him a closer view. 'Damn, that thing's big!'

'At least two miles in diameter,' Kei called out. 'It's giving off some serious dark matter emissions.'

Sure enough, that eerie blue glow emanated from the centre mass, interspersed with dark tendrils radiating into space.

'We are within the range of those emissions,' Mimay said quietly, materialising on my blind side like a pale wraith.

Sure enough, when I looked out of the bridge window, the ship's deck appeared to be garlanded with that pale blue flame, much like the old mariners' tales of St Elmo's fire on old Earth sailing ships. It had even permeated our hull, and gathered around each of the crew like an aura. I lifted my own hand up in front of me, watching the pale flame flicker around my glove.

'Is it safe?' Someone asked. Sabu, I thought.

'It is not harmful. So long as our exposure is limited.' Mimay answered softly.

'What about Kei and Ali, flying into the heart of that thing?' I asked. It had slipped my mind that we actually intended to attack an open dark matter engine, with none of the safeguards the Arcadia had in place.

'We'll both be wearing our hardsuits,' Kei replied. 'Mimay?'

Mimay inclined her head delicately. 'The armour, and the space wolf, will protect you both, but you are already imbued with dark matter. All of us are, to one extent or another. Unless a concentrated burst is used as a weapon, these tenuous coronae are relatively harmless.'

'It's that 'relatively' that has me worried,' Ali muttered. Kei slapped him on the shoulder.

'Then the faster we get the job done, the less time we'll be out there. Come on, grumpy. Time to suit up!'

I'd hoped for a better way of wishing her luck than the quick squeeze of my hand she gave me as she walked past the helm. Her rueful little smile told me it wasn't one sided. But as we'd often spoken of together, at the end of the day, we were comrades in arms, as well as friends and lovers. Clipping her wings would have quickly ended the latter two relationships in short order.

Which never stopped me wanting to protect her. I just knew better than to try.

'What, no hugs and kisses for me?' Ali smirked as he walked past.

'Why Ali, I never you you cared...' I quipped back. He grinned, slapped me on the shoulder almost hard enough to make me stumble, and sauntered off whistling. 'Just come back, 'I called out after him. 'Both of you!'


	19. Chapter 19

We drifted. Only minor corrections with the thrusters, gliding closer to the bristling dark orb, with that pale blue womb at its heart. Dark matter ensheathed the Arcadia slowly as we progressed. Not enough to attract too much attention, or so I hoped. I was utterly reliant upon Mimay's skill with her creation. Her pale hands danced over the glowing globe she used to guide it.

A song, she had called it. A true test of her control, this, to make the Arcadia sing softly in the night. Tiny green fireflies danced around her, weaving in and out of the translucent veils which covered her flightsuit; in and out of the silken fall of her hair.

Maji had jury rigged a manual launch for the space wolf using a slow boost and cargo railing, to allow Kei to launch with her engines barely warm. I had the balusters of the wheel in a death grip as they dropped out beneath us and shot ahead, using our momentum to slingshot them forwards. Some of the dark matter accreted to the fighter, giving it some shielding, however brief. One way or another we were committed.

For a ship so swift, this was painfully slow. Kei's little fighter sped ahead of us, and all I could do was watch, and glide in its wake, waiting, watching.

'They're closing in on the fail safe point,' Yattaran rumbled next to me. 'Any minute...'

'Incoming signal, captain!' Carlos called from Kei's station. 'It's on a very low frequency, and encoded with the key Selen gave us for that agent of theirs!'

'Yamori, eh?' Yattaran pulled a worried frown. 'What could he want this late in the day?'

'Bad enough to break radio silence? Put him on.'

'Harlock?' Yamori's voice, but strangely modulated, and also somehow distant. 'Harlock, if you can hear me, pull back. This isn't just a transmitter, it's a weapon. Tell Mimay, the dark matter array. ..' the transmission cut off abruptly.

Weapons... wherewherewhere? No sign of any energy signatures in the structure that I remembered...but... those spidery tridents...

'Mimay! I called out. 'Those spindles -'

'Like ours?' Yattaran swore under his breath. 'Kei...and Ali...'

'Full power to the dark matter engine. All ahead full. Get Kei on line. Tell her to pull out.'

'Too late!' Carlos called. 'They're going in!'

The afterburner of the space wolf lit up, and the agile craft sprang forwards, speeding towards the structure, which even as I watched, began to twist and unfurl, dark matter threads already forming between them, condensing and focusing.

'Mimay, I need everything you can give me. Get between Kei and those things. '

'We can't get there in time,' Yattaran muttered, gripping his console tightly. 'Too damn slow, too slow..'

'Harlock?' Kei's voice. 'We can still do this. We're almost in!'

'Abort, that's an order!' Despite my order, she showed no sign of changing direction. The dark matter was still building.

'Captain, she's right. We can finish this. Just give us some cover!' Ali this time. So much for hoping one of them had some sense.

'Harlock. Leave it to Mimay and me,' Tochiro now added, his voice only in my ear. 'Just hold her on course. Get Yattaran to clear the main cannon for firing.'

There seemed to be little choice. Taking a firm hold of the wheel, I felt the Arcadia powering up, an almost tangible force similar to the time we'd taken on the Phantasm.

Kei flew into the superstructure, her space wolf almost turning cartwheels in an attempt to not only navigate the interior struts, but to avoid the dark matter threads they were generating.

Then the Arcadia was firing, her shots lancing into the machine, crumbling the unfolding arrays. I tried not to flinch when, on the screen at least, they seemed to be missing Kei and Ali by inches, even as Ali began firing, taking out the specific areas Mimay had identified. Machinelike precision, as casually as if he were taking potshots at targets on a fairground stall.

But our troubles were far from over. Even as the array in front of us began to collapse and its dark matter dissipate, a secondary structure was emerging from the wreckage, just in time for the Arcadia to be rocked by an undetected force.

'What the hell!'Yattaran started swearing at the hapless Carlos. 'Did you not see that coming? What the fuck was it? '

'A massive signal, from the direction of Lar Metal. It looks like Selen failed!'

'Kei!' I shouted over the comms.

'I heard. Ali's on it. Just a little longer...'

Her voice cut off in a burst of static, and the image on the screen suddenly wavered and split. We couldn't see the structure. It was hidden by a dazzling burst of blue light, that radiated towards it and blinded both us and our sensors.

'Harlock, quit playing around. I can't hold this back much longer. Get the bearing!'

Yamori again, sounding stressed. I wasn't sure if he was on the level or playing us, but there was little time to worry about it.

'Yattaran - can we stop that signal? Where's that first gate?'

'On it, on it! You just steer this thing and let me work!'

A single beam of that blue light shot out from the machine, and as it did so, a darkness moved, sliding out of the way to reveal a hidden hypergate, already on line. The beam shot through it, accelerating, as two things happened: the machine exploded, cutting off the beam. And the Phantasm, moving towards us at a speed I didn't think possible given her size, began firing at us.

'Debris, incoming!' Yasu shouted.

'Yattaran, forward and starboard shields on full.' I span the ship round to take the debris on our flank and still face the Phantasm. Even with the dark matter shield, some debris from the explosion got through, rattling into the hull like hail. Thankfully the auto repair could deal with minor damage. Kei's space wolf however...

'Did they get clear?' I was yelling even as I span the wheel to get us out of the line of fire. Their first salvo missed us by a hairs breadth, and Yattaran was bellowing orders to the gun crews as I swung us up and around, trying to outflank the dark matter wreathed battleship. Our own salvo went wide.

'Can't tell,' Carlos called back. 'No - wait. I have a lock on the transponder, but it's faint. They're too close to that ghost ship!' I swore under my breath, but loudly enough to make Yattaran do a double take at the sentiment expressed.

'I'm not sure that's anatomically possible, and you sure as hell can't do it with a battleship...' he muttered. Then he rocked back on his heels and let out a bellowing laugh. 'Oi, captain... can you get our ghost up here?'

Tochiro's hologram flickered into life next to me, dimmer than usual, but then, he was dividing his attention several ways. 'You had an idea?'

'Ah. This self repairing thing the dark matter does to the ship... can't work properly around a foreign object, right?'

I began to have a glimmering idea of what he might have in mind. 'You want me to ram that thing?'

'Ah. But it needs a little extra... something to force through without causing us too much damage. I figured that a repair is kind of a remodelling, right?'

'So if you can repair a hole or a crumple, you can make the armour form something else!' I began to see what he was suggesting. I had to keep my attention on the Phantasm, but I was thinking quickly as I pulled us round into another evasive turn, trying to draw the Phantasm away from Kei and Ali. 'What did you have in mind?'

'Don't rush me!'he snapped. 'Dan, get your arse up here and take my station.' The dapper little guy bounded up the steps two at a time to take over. Meanwhile, Yattaran paced the gantry, watched by Tochiro's faded image. 'Needs to have a small area at point of impact to maximise. .. figure on a cutting edge, maybe? Couple of shots to soften 'er up...'

'Are you seriously talking about bringing a knife to a gunfight?' I asked a little testily. Beside me, Tochiro chuckled.

'I might be able to do just that!' He actually forgot himself so far as to start running off the bridge before remembering he wasn't actually there in the flesh. Despite the gravity of the situation, it was such a human gesture I couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. His image vanished, and I made another valiant attempt to break the stalemate between ourselves and the Phantasm, but the ship was easily as fast as we were, and we circled each other warily, with Kei's fighter still too close to it for my peace of mind. No matter what I tried, the bastard knew they were there and took pains to ensure I couldn't shake them loose.

'Got it,' came Tochiro's voice over the comms. 'Yattaran - you can deploy from your station when ready. Harlock - full speed ahead, and fire the forward cannon. One full salvo, keep their attention on the guns. Just aim for centre mass. I'm closing all interior bulkheads. Though you might want to keep a steady hand on the helm. When we hit, she might buck a little...'

'Kei?' I asked.

'She's trying to get clear, but she says there's a drag on them. Might be another ship close by, but shielded. No readings!' Sabu called out.

I swore again, but there was nothing I could do for them unless I got this pest out of the way. 'All head full. Brace yourselves, people. Hopefully this will hurt them a lot more than it hurts us!' I had no idea what Tochiro had planned, but I had learned to trust the little guy. We flew straight and true for the centre mass of the Phantasm, all guns blazing. Not expecting us to head right down his throat, Loki hesitated. And in that moment, we were within spitting distance, and he couldn't manoeuvre out of our way.

Harlock had always aimed for a glancing strike, to tear out the hull with our own, trusting to the auto repair to take care of the damage. Now we were head on, and this could so easily, at these speeds, take out both ships, if we made a mistake.

'Now!' I ordered. At the last minute, I felt a subtle shift in the Arcadia, almost a shrug. Then we were on top of the ghost ship.

He turned slightly at the very last moment, and even as we hit, I could feel the ship sliding through, as though we had stuck something into it and it flipped us. I had to fight the helm with everything I had, almost losing control even with the central computer's help. Something snapped, and we were spinning free, gyrating wildly for a moment before I got her under control. Several pithy shouts of outrage reached me from the lower bridge stations, but then Arcadia stabilised, settling back into its usual smooth glide through the darkness. I arced the ship back onto a heading facing the Phantasm, and saw her spewing dark matter like a sea bed smoker, her usual orderly ribbons in total disarray. Stuck firmly in her midsection was the tip of an enormous curved blade.

'Seriously? I turned to Yattaran. 'Did we just shiv that thing?' But I was grinning like a maniac. That had been a major rush. The Phantasm shivered and vanished into IN-SKIP. 'Good riddance. Now let's pick up Kei and Ali...'

'Erm... Captain?' Sabu sounded distressed. 'There's another ship.'

'Give me a bloody break...' I muttered. 'Carlos?'

'Lar Metallian. Colonel Geran's ship, the _Queen Mother Urs_. Captain, they have a line on the space wolf!'

'Can we get a shot without harming our people?' I tried to keep the rising fear out of my voice. Cold. Calm. Collected.

'Sorry cap'n. They've taken them on board. If we fire...'

I slammed my hand into the top rim of the wheel, causing the ship to shudder slightly. Yattaran made a slight movement as if to stop me, but drew back quickly when he saw my face.

'They're powering up to leave. There's a message...' Carlos continued.

'On screen.'

Geran's smug face appeared in front of me, magnified to gigantic size. 'Harlock. You really do know how to make a nuisance of yourself.'

'You have my people, Geran. Give them back.'

'Since you ask so nicely... no. You still have something my queen wants, Harlock. I suggest you let her have it. I'll be in touch.'

'Geran. Geran, wait... GERAN!' He'd already cut the connection, and before I could do anything, they vanished. There was a stunned silence on the bridge.

'Get Selen on line.' I said quietly. When no-one jumped to it I raised my voice slightly. 'Now.' I didn't look to see who obeyed. Out of the corner of my good eye, I saw Yattaran slump wearily against his console.

'We're getting them back, first mate. Set course for Lar Metal. We know where he's going.'

He looked at me blearily, his eyes puffy behind those thick glasses. 'How can you be so fucking calm... they took Kei!'

'And Ali,'I reminded him. I was gripping the balusters of the wheel so hard my arms were aching. 'We don't abandon our own. Nor do we negotiate. I'm not handing the girls over, so we're going after them with every bit of speed we have, and we're not leaving them in that bastard's hands any longer than we have to. I've had first hand experience of how he treats his prisoners.'

He straightened up. 'Aye aye, captain.' Nodding his approval, he began bellowing orders.'You all heard the captain, you scurvy bastards! We don't leave our own hung out to dry! Get this ship pointed the right way and set course for Lar Metal. Carlos- where the hell is that link the captain asked you for? Whaddya doing? Taking Selen the message by hand?'

'I just have commander Zero,' he replied. 'They took down the emitter array, but there's a problem. He says they took prisoners. One of them was Selen.'

Had Geran known? There was, I knew, a history between them... it might explain why he hadn't hung around...

'Tell him I'm on my way. Give him a full report.' I relinquished the wheel reluctantly, but as the ship powered up for an IN-SKIP jump, there was little more I could do here.

'At least those kids are out if the way,' Yattaran muttered. 'Be hell to pay if he could get his hands on them.'

Tochiro's little apologetic cough in my ear made my heart sink, even before he spoke. 'Yeah... about that...'

'They stowed away?' I asked, but since it was the only thing right now that could make the day even worse, I felt only a dull surprise. 'How long have you known? No, never mind. You've got access to all the ship's systems. You had to have known.'

'Harlock...'

'Leave it, Tochiro. We'll continue this in the central computer room. In private.'

* * *

The two miscreants were already in the computer room.

'Now. Am I supposed to guess who had this brilliant idea?' I asked. I stared at Emeraldas, who tried to look me in the eye boldly, but failed.

'I did.' Surprisingly it was quiet, fair Maetel who spoke up. 'Don't blame Em, she refused to let me go alone.'

'Which you knew she would, to protect you.' I honestly wanted to shake her, realising belatedly that this shy, silent girl was a great deal more manipulative than I'd given her credit for. Emeraldas looked remorseful. Her sister just looked... quietly resolved. 'Why? Not only were you putting yourselves in danger in the event of a firefight, but you place me in a difficult position. Do you have any idea what just happened?'

Maetel nodded. 'I asked Tochiro to keep us informed. She'll want us in trade for Kei and your crewman, I know.'

'Really. Did you consider that I might have a bloody mutiny on my hands if my crew hear that I've got the one thing that would make Promethium give us Kei and Ali back? Because with you two safely back on Tabito, I could sell them on going in for a fast, hard rescue. It would have taken too long to go and fetch you.' I was pacing furiously, my hand tangled in my hair, because so help me, I was tempted to throttle the pair of them, and their willing helper. And yes, I _was_ exaggerating , but they needed a damn good scare. 'And you... you should have told me the first chance you got. Between you, you've placed me right on the spot. I'm one man against forty. Kei and Ali have been members of this crew for years. I've been their captain for a few months.' I took a deep breath. 'You might want to know that they also have your aunt. And I'm now going to have to tell your uncle that I'm hauling ass to help him, with you two on board instead of tucked up safely on Tabito.'

'If it came down to it,' Maetel said softly. 'We'd go back to her. Neither of us would let anything happen to Kei or Selen.'

'Well it isn't up to you. I refuse to trade one life for another.'

Emeraldas chewed her lip thoughtfully. 'But you love Kei?' Interesting how when it came down to the wire, it was the quieter twin doing the talking. Emeraldas just looked resigned.

I sighed. 'Of course I do. But do you really think she'd thank me for saving her by sacrificing you two? That's not who we are.' I noticed Mimay lurking by the doorway. 'Would you take them back to their quarters?' She nodded, and held her hands out to the girls. Typically Maetel took the offered hand, Emeraldas stuck hers mulishly into her pockets.

With the room empty, I turned to the darkly illuminated trunk of the central computer. 'Why?'

'A feeling.' He paused. 'It was no secret we'd spent time on and around Tabito. I think for now at least, they're safer here, where we can protect them.'

'Then why not just tell me?'

'Because if asked, you can't lie worth a damn.'

He had me there, but any further discussion had to be tabled as he added: 'Transmission coming in from Lar Metal.'

'Can you patch it through to here? ' The computer banks hummed softly, their tone deepening, and a hologram formed off to my left. Geran.

* * *

He was standing in what looked like a sandy desert, which I guessed had to be the wilderness outside the city. Behind him stood a ruined wall, with three Y-framed posts in front of it. Two of them were already occupied. From the left hand frame, Selen hung limply, her arms tied above her head to the y. Her long auburn hair was lank and matted, her face bruised and bloodied, her flightsuit ripped in several places. Only her bonds seemed to be holding her up.

On the middle frame, Kei was tied in a similar manner, sporting a purple bruise above her right eye, and a nasty cut to her forehead disappeared into her hairline. Her blonde hair was stiffly matted with blood, and her wrists were bloodied, traces of dried blood running down her arms. She was still putting up a struggle, and hurling abuse at Geran. Without speaking, he walked up to her and casually backhanded her in the face. Her head slammed back against the upright and she sagged limply, silent.

I took two steps towards the image before I could stop myself.

'Noisy, isn't she?' He said conversationally as he turned to face the projector again. 'Not quite sure of the attraction myself. Plebeian little whores aren't my style, but I suppose there aren't too many options on that abomination of a ship.'

'You're a dead man walking, Colonel. Where's my other crewman?'

'What no pleas for your woman?' Ah well.' He nodded, and from off screen someone hauled Ali into view. Like Kei he looked battered and bruised. He'd have a couple of new scars on his face if Doc didn't get to him soon. One was a vicious slash from his forehead to his chin on his right side, and both eyes were almost swollen shut and purpling. They'd stripped him to the waist, and the slabbed muscle of his chest and stomach were covered in dark purple and greenish bruises, almost no skin colour to be seen. His left arm hung limply at his side, the shoulder at an odd angle. 'He put up quite a fight, trying to protect your girl. I can't take credit for her injuries, by the way. That fighter took a few knocks from the debris field.' He nodded again and his men hauled Ali over to the remaining Y frame, and tied him tightly. His scream when they pulled that dislocated arm above his head went straight through me, though Ali being Ali, he managed to get a leg free and smash a foot into someone's groin before three of them piled onto him and tied him firmly to the posts, the ropes cutting cruelly into flesh. The torrent of abuse he let loose even made Geran take a step back, before another gesture resulted in a dialhead lackey gagging him.

'Appalling manners, but what else should I expect? And from a once respected geologist. Shocking how far some men can fall.'

'Say what you want, Geran. I'm on my way to get my people back. If you value your life... 'I paused, and gave him my best imitation of Isora's grim smirk. 'No. On second thoughts, there is no place for you to hide. If I find you, I will kill you. Let them go.'

'What I want? The girl, Harlock. Give me Maetel, and your people - and the lovely Selen - walk free. If they can. The same message is going out to Rei, and he might be a little more susceptible, since I think I was a little too rough with his adored mistress. There'll be no rescue - if I see either of your ships or any fighters getting close to place, they die. Oh - and you might want to hurry. Selen doesn't look too good, and I believe your foul-mouthed crewman has some internal injuries.' He poked Ali in the side, eliciting a pained grunt even through the gag. 'Hmmm. It does feel a little soft in there, it has to be said. I think that was a rib.'

'What makes you think I can lay my hands on the girls in time, even if I did agree?' I asked mildly, faking the air of a man taking the idea under consideration.

He laughed harshly. 'Because she can feel them getting closer, boy. She can always feel her children, especially the favoured one. Incidentally, it is just Maetel we want. The other is of no use to us, so don't get any ideas about hostages.'

I wanted to slam my fist in his face for even suggesting that I'd consider threatening a child, but that was only one in a long list of actions and words that I seriously wanted to educate him about. I tried to keep my gaze on him, not on the battered figures of friends and a loved one behind him. Something in my face must have given him pause, because he took an involuntary step back before he stopped himself.

'Twelve hours, Harlock. That's about as much time as you get, before injury and exposure take care of them. And remember - the first hint of a plane or an attack, and they die.'

'Which kind of negates your ability to trade,' I snarled.

He merely smirked. 'Not at all. It simply means I'll have to take what I want the hard way. Your call, Harlock, Rei.' He cut the transmission.

I sat down heavily on the rootlike conduit that trailed out from the central trunk. 'There won't be a trade. No matter what.' I told Tochiro coldly. 'Can you raise Zero?'

'He's already hailing us. So's Colonel Ichimonji, for that matter. He's about an hour out of Lar Metal's system.'

'Put them both through to here,' I told him. 'This might need all of us to pull off.'

'You're going for the rescue?' Emeraldas' voice behind me was incredulous. 'He will kill them.'

'It's not up for debate, Em.' I said softly. I turned, and for once, she wasn't wearing that superior little smirk. 'Did you really believe I'd turn you over to her?'

'It's not me she wants. It's May. It was always May. But May's all I have, I'd never leave her.' She huffed slightly, a gesture I was sure she'd picked up from Kei. 'Nothing I ever did was good enough. Too tall. Too red haired. Too tomboyish. Too opinionated. Too noisy. Not affectionate enough. I could never please Mother.'

I knew that hurt all too well. 'Your father?'

'Kind of nice, but away a lot, even when he was in the room, if you know what I mean. Distracted. I spent more time with Aunt Selen. We were a lot alike, she said. Are.'

'See. Maetel isn't the only family you have.'

She gave me a rueful smile. 'But Kei's in danger. Aren't you worried?'

'Truthfully, if I stop moving and start thinking about it, I might fall to pieces. But the trick is to keep moving. I won't give up. I've lost too many people I care about to go down without a fight.'

She chewed her bottom lip for a minute, looking as though there was something she wanted to say. I waited. Eventually she asked softly: 'Can I sit - with you - for a while? I feel safe in here.'

'Are you talking to me or Tochiro?' I asked. 'In here it's generally both of us.' But I patted the conduit next to me and shifted a little to make room. She sat, tentatively, but it was more human interaction than I 'd seen from her since I'd met her.

'Why do you keep being so nice to us? It's my mother who's doing this, and her agents.'

'You're not your mother, Em. Nor is your sister.'

Tochiro murmured in my ear comm that the link up was ready, but I didn't think I could move just yet. Eventually, her quiet voice said: 'I'm afraid for May.'

Her hands were in her lap, clenched into tight fists. Not sure how much to offer, I laid one on mine over hers and gave a reassuring squeeze. It was only a little later, after she'd given me a brief, sad smile and left, and before I asked Tochiro to connect to Zero and Dan, that I realised I'd misheard.

She'd not said 'for'.

The word had been 'of'.


	20. Chapter 20

On the periphery of the Lar Metallian solar system, our three ships floated within shuttle distance of each other. As somewhat neutral territory, we met aboard the Futatsuboshi, in a small war room just behind the bridge. Three captains. One big problem.

Zero keyed up the holo projector to display a 3D map of the area where Kei, Ali and Selen were being held. 'It's the remains of an old ruin. Dates back to the earliest days of the colony. Used to be a thriving township, until the riverbed shifted course about three hundred years ago. It's just off the floodplain, and the area is pretty flat. Not easy to sneak up on anyone, there's no cover for miles.'

'Except for the ravine the old river cut,' I pointed out. Apparently a massive seismic event had moved the river several miles east, leaving a dry ravine cut through a pale pink sandstone. A planet that underwent extensive glaciation every thousand years or so was subject to some serious rebound. Not the safest planet humans had settled, but it had been a good hundred and fifty years before they'd realised their mistake.

'Which Geran will have planned for. It'd be a killing zone, for anyone stupid enough to fly it,' Zero pointed out.

Ichimonji had a tight grip on one side of his moustache. 'Not necessarily,' he said thoughtfully. He leaned over and magnified the image. 'It's a convoluted run, and there are some major overhangs which would restrict cannon placement. There's no straight line of sight for more than a few hundred yards at a time. But a fast plane with a good pilot could make the run, flying below radar.'

'You'd have to practically scrape the undercarriage on the ground to make it through a couple of those overhangs,' I pointed out. 'Let alone stay below radar. It narrows in three places so much you'd have to go through sideways, there are two almost vertical climbs, _and_ you'd be forced above the deck in at least one place. A space wolf has the speed and the agility, but I don't have a pilot good enough to fly that ravine. She's down there tied to a pole.'

'I can fly it,' Ichimonji said softly. 'And I have another officer on my ship almost as good.'

From anyone else it would have sounded like a vain boast, but I had seen this guy fly. 'You haven't logged any time on the space wolf,' I told him. 'They're frighteningly quick, even for someone trained on a cosmo tiger.'

He shook his head. 'Actually, I did fly one. Not in combat. I used to be part of a display team, before transferring to testing, and later to the SPG. Henry - Henry Douglas, my XO - was my wing man back then. We've been flying together since the Academy. Our team got a couple of those things out of the museum for a memorial flight. We've handled them.'

That I hadn't known. 'Aerobatics might actually be more useful than combat time,' I mused. 'Plus you're to be as much a distraction as fire support. He's left us what we're supposed to see as our only option, regardless of the risk, so If he's watching the ravine, he's not watching anything else. We could also use a long gun specialist - can you supply one?'

'He doesn't have to,' Zero answered softly. 'I can take that role. All I need is a decent high point to take up position. The plateau to the north should do. It's two miles, but I can make that shot, no problem. Geran's head's big enough.' Despite the quip, there was little humour in his voice for once. He had a death grip on his hair when he thought no-one was looking, and half a dozen empty cups littering the table were testament to way too much coffee being consumed. I understood all too well what he was going through, but at least I knew Kei wasn't too badly hurt. His worry over Selen must have been driving him crazy.

Ichimonji began speaking again: 'Which just leaves the question of how to get someone down to the holding point to take out the guards before we start shooting. It's all for nothing if we can't protect the prisoners before we launch the main attack. Even then, it'll be close - that area's swarming with troops. Geran's made it impossible to take it from the ground, and an aerial drop would be spotted long before they reached the spot,' he drawled. 'Can't use an EMP. Anything that could take out military grade equipment would fry our own systems, and besides, according to our sources these machinners have got decent shielding.' He looked at me. 'But you said you might have an idea? What were you planning - tunneling in?'

'Not exactly. We can't drop anyone from a plane or ship in atmosphere. But we could possibly get someone to make a free jump from low orbit.'

He whistled incredulously. 'Even going for a HALO or HAHA insertion, a parachute would be spotted, and that's a risky jump even for an experienced whackjob. What adrenaline junkie did you find to volunteer for _that_ suicide mission?' Ichimonji asked, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded.

I leaned back in my chair, arms folded. 'No 'chute. And that would be me. I've got the experience; I've been basejumping since I was thirteen, and made several jumps from that height in training at the Academy.' I'd also shattered my right leg for the second time in my life on my third jump, but decided not to mention that part. Or the broken arm. My humerus still had a nice set of screws in it, and according to the military doctor only the rods and plates were holding my right femur together, though he had been exaggerating.

A little.

'So your plan is to what - land on top of Geran and flatten him at the bottom of a small crater?' He rolled his eyes.

'Sarcasm doesn't become you, Dantetsu,' I chided. 'I've got something better than a chute. Harlock left me his gravity cloak.'

Ichimonji just looked blank, but Zero spluttered. 'You can't be serious!'

I shrugged. Serious or not, it seemed to be the only option for getting down there fast enough, and I said so. 'Maji's been getting it fitted to attach to my battle armour. Harlock used his chest piece to take it but that vanished with him. Wouldn't have fit me anyway.'

'You're planning on trusting your life to a piece of alien tech you've never tested?' Ichimonji shook his head in wonderment. 'You've got balls, I'll give you that. Not sure about any brains, however.' He shot a searching glance at Zero. 'You okay with this, Rei? It's Selen's life on the line as well here.'

He wasn't going to have much hair left if he kept tugging on it. 'I have to be. We've been over the options. Harlock's plan is batshit insane, but it might be something Geran hasn't considered. You forget - he knows both of us and how we think.'

'So long as we can co-ordinate and get our timing right, this stands a chance. Rei on the sniper rifle to lay down covering fire, I drop in to get the prisoners, and the moment I'm down, Dan and his friend can start their run and take out the troops. It doesn't have any margin for error, and I'll have next to no time to do much more than hide everyone behind that wall, so I need you two to keep Geran's army off my back. After that, we can hit them with everything we have.'

With at least the outline of a plan, we had a chance, small though it was, and of necessity rather nebulous. I knew Ichimonji wasn't fond of 'winging it' as he put it, but if he and his friend were as good as he claimed... I'd take a flexible approach any day.

My own part in this, however... I tried not to think about it too closely. First things first: Letting two SPG officers on board my ship. My decidedly illegal, crewed-by-wanted-criminals pirate battleship...

* * *

Henry Douglas turned out to be the polar opposite of his commanding officer and life long best friend; the two were a similar height and build, but Douglas was blond where Dan was dark. Blue eyed, cheerful and a bit of a practical joker - this last reflected in his callsign: 'Jester'. Despite a few misgivings at working with the regulars, Maji and Yattaran took to him in short order, happily showing him round the fighter hangar.

'Giddy as a bloody schoolboy,' Ichimonji snorted, as Douglas ferreted around in the cockpit of the space wolf he'd been assigned, laughing and joking with the usually silent Maji. 'You're supposed to fly it, Hank, not make love to it!' He called out across the deck. Douglas flipped him the finger.

'At least I leave 'em happy, Dan. How many have you totalled by now? What is it - twenty?'

His response was understandably a little tetchy. 'That tends to happen on test flights. Difficult to crash something that spends most of its time in a hangar...'

I began to fear for the safety of my beloved black and red fighter at this point, and seriously regretting the generous impulse to lend it out. But since we only had the two currently operational, with Kei's lost in action, I didn't have a lot of choice. Besides, I'd sacrifice it in a heartbeat to save them if I had to. Douglas saw me fidgeting and laughed.

'Don't fret too much. He actually is almost as good as he thinks he is.'

That occasioned another snort from the colonel. Douglas grinned at me and winked. 'If it's any consolation, he usually does more damage to himself than the planes. That's why we're out here instead of still on the display circuit.'

'Hank...'

Douglas ignored the warning tone. He tapped the side of his head with one finger. 'One too many concussions. He's known through out the service for landing on his bloody head. Good job it's as hard as tectite, frankly.'

'Hank!'

'Oh, lighten up, how often do we get to fly museum pieces like these? And in pristine condition!' He hurriedly added as he saw hackles raising at the perceived insult. 'Sorry, that came out wrong, but seriously, these are legendary! We've flown the standard model, but these DS variants were all thought lost with their ships at the end of the Homecoming War. Their designer was a genius... just look at the...' and he was off, waxing lyrical and firing off a hundred quickfire questions to my crew.

I shared a look with Ichimonji. 'If it helps, I have a couple like that as well...'

'We have different styles, but it works. Best wingman I've ever had.'

'I'm the _only_ wingman you've ever had, Hunter!' Douglas shouted back. 'No one else ever wants to fly with you, because you're a cranky, overly critical old bastard!'

'Hunter?' I asked.

'Callsign,' was the laconic reply.

'Always gets his prey,' Douglas added.

I left them to it. I had my own preparations to make, and since I needed a little customisation doing, I had to pry Maji away from his new best friend. Joking banter aside, it was pretty obvious these guys knew their stuff: I'd known enough fighter jocks in my admittedly short career, and the levity didn't hide the professionalism with which both men went over the craft with a fine toothed comb before even looking at the cockpit.

I left them in Yattaran's capable hands and went to get my own gear sorted.

* * *

Maji settled the cloak into place, and it rested heavily on my shoulders, Anyone who was used to the thick 'leathers' of spacer flightsuits and clothing was used to the weight of the stuff; even the top quality fabrics were as heavy as their ancient, organic namesake. But the amount of material in this thing was excessive. I'd probably get used to it in time, but right now, it felt like the weight of the world settling on my shoulders.

'I had to run the controls through the links on your armour for now,' my quiet engineer told me. 'We can figure something out for regular wear later. The captain's spare bracer won't fit you. Don't worry about the drag from the fabric: the circuitry running through it generates a field, and that should keep you safe. The rough points will be when you kick it into action, and landing. Once you reach terminal velocity, you can activate the field any time, but I recommend leaving it as late as you would if free-jumping. I've no idea without tests how long the field will last, and we've no time to practice. You've got one shot.'

'That's more words than I've heard you use in all the time I've been on board,' I told him. He smiled. 'I remember Harlock landed a little heavy on the workboat gantry when he rescued me. Is that likely to be a problem?'

'You might want to go for a tuck and roll, don't try to land on your feet.' He replied. 'With practice you should be able to manipulate the field with some finesse, and we can work on a better interface. You'll have to rely on your armour's servos for now.'

'One thing I never got,' Yattaran drawled from the sidelines. 'Why a cloak? It's gotta be hard to handle flapping about like that.'

'A nasty case of narcissistic exhibitionism?' I snarked back. 'Sadly, having seen it in action, it really does look kind of cool. Assuming, that is,' I grunted as I tried to settle it into a better position, 'you can stand up whilst wearing it...' The damn thing was also a little too long for me; hardly surprising, given Harlock's extra inches over my own six-one. He'd also been broader across the shoulders.

Maji darted forwards. 'Oops. Sorry.' He made a couple of fingertip adjustments to the almost imperceptible controls. The weight was noticeably lessened. 'Better?'

'Much, thanks. I guess that explains that one.' I'd still have to be careful not to let it trip me up, however, and the sabre rifle kept hitting the damn thing when I moved.

'You need to try to keep it around you, or turn and roll backwards to keep the bulk of it under you whilst you fall, if you can. The cloak will act as an ablative shield. With your armour, that should protect you during re entry.'

'You sure about this, captain?' Yattaran asked. 'We all want Kei and Ali back, but if anything happens to you...'

'Then the ship will have to find a new captain, but I suspect that will be the least of your problems. Mine will be over at least.' I checked over the seals on the armour. I'd only worn it once before, and there were still a few pressure points that chafed, but it would have to do for now. The prisoners didn't have too much time. 'Crack the hatch, Yattaran. I think it's about time.' I wasn't nearly ready enough by half, but I hadn't got the luxury of time.

He nodded, turned away, but then turned round and without warning gave me a bear hug I could feel even through the armour. 'Be careful, cap'n.' He said a little gruffly. I nodded. Maji gave me a thumbs up. There really wasn't much more I could say. The lower hatch began to open, and I slid the faceplate of the helmet into place, breathing deeply. Magnetic clamps in my boots kept me in place, as the wind whipped the cloak around me, despite the thin air. I told myself I'd done this before, from similar heights, but that had been with state of the art equipment and a backup chute. It didn't really cover jumping out of a perfectly flight-worthy spacecraft relying on a long black cloak to stop me from plummeting to my death several tens of thousands of feet below.

I took a deep breath, pushed aside the thoughts and fears that threatened to choke me, and waited for the signal from Yattaran to jump. On his shout of 'now!', I launched myself into the air, clear of the Arcadia, and began to fall.

* * *

It felt pretty good at first, no worse than an ordinary jump, albeit with considerably less kit to handle. The freefall was exhilarating. A heads-up display on the faceplate allowed me to judge position and speed, and minor course corrections through the interface weren't too difficult. Until I hit the atmosphere for real, at which point the absolute, boneheaded stupidity of the plan finally began to hit home, as I frantically tried to keep my body on course.

Hitting the ground wasn't going to be the problem. Doing so in the right place and walking away from it... I was tossed around like a leaf, desperately trying to keep some kind of co-ordination, and instead of a calm, rational assessment of my position, location, and altitude, the only thing going through my head was a panicked mantra of _ohshitiohshitohshitfuuuuuuuucccckkkkkwhatthehellwasIthinkingohfuuuccckkfuuckkkfuuuuckkk..._

'Captain. Watch your breathing there. You're hyperventilating.' Yattaran, over the comms. I felt like screaming back something about him trying it if he thought he could do better, but there was no way in hell I could get a coherent reply out. Kei might just be in luck, curing me of suicidally stupid stunts. If I walked away from this one I might just swear off them for life.

'Oi, Harlock. It's fine. Just breathe. You're a little off course. Just make a couple of corrections. I'll send them. Don't worry. I've got your back.'

'Tochiro?' I found myself calming a little at the sound of his voice.

'Ah. You're doing just fine. Just a little slower. You can use the gravity field, a small correction.'

Following his calm, steady instructions, I got myself under control, physically and mentally. I had a nasty moment when the cloak tangled with the holstered sabre rifle, but got myself out of trouble without too much time lost. After a little while his constant flow of advice and calm chatter steadied my frayed nerves. My breathing steadied, and I was able to control the descent by the time I hit the lower cloud level with much greater confidence. It took seconds. It felt like a lifetime. And then through the heads-up I could see the ground, rushing up to meet me. Ahead, maybe a mile before the ruins. A check of the readings. A little fast; at this rate I'd overshoot. Increase the field a little, let the tech do the work. All the time, Tochiro's quiet, steadfast encouragement in my ear.

Remembering Harlock's hard landing, I did at least manage to tuck and roll into the landing, although trying to do that having forgotten that I'd strapped on the damn sabre as well as my cosmo dragoon... not my most elegant landing, as the damn thing caught in the cloak, got stuck at the wrong angle. I hit something hard and flipped me over to land hard on my right knee and shoulder. Thankfully hours of daily training with Kei in the gym had paid off, and I was at least able to roll with it despite a pained yelp (hopefully going unheard by onlookers) and get clumsily to my feet. _Well, any landing you can limp away from... Nothing broken, at least, this time..._ Clearing the folds out of the way to clear the holster to cross draw with my right arm, I was on my feet and firing whilst the troops in front of me were still wondering what had hit them. Literally, because I almost tripped over two I'd taken the legs out from under when I'd rolled.

* * *

It appeared machinners kept a lot of human weaknesses, despite their change in form. No computerised clarity of thinking as a fringe benefit: more the worst of both worlds - a tendency to think in straight lines and the very human response of firing at random when things didn't go their way. Instead of firing on the hostages, they immediately attacked the idiot in front of them. I'd taken down at least ten before they got themselves organised enough to start aiming properly, and by that time, Zero was busy taking out a few from his vantage point a mile or two away, with surgical precision.

I backed towards the Y frames, guided by Kei, who, seeing the fray, was kindly shouting out directions. I only ducked one opportunist who'd had enough initiative to sneak round to my blind side because of her timely warning. Then the dialheads and their human comrades had far more to worry about, as two space wolves howled in and began laying down enough covering fire to allow me to start cutting the prisoners down. Relying on the two SPG officers and Zero to watch my back, I cut Selen down and laid her carefully on the ground. She didn't stir, which was worrying, although my readings did show a weak pulse.

Kei was next, clinging to my shoulders as I lowered her down. She laid a hand shakily on the face of my helmet, but all I could offer was a brief nod.

'You okay to start shooting?' I asked. She nodded, obviously regretted moving her head, but still held out her hand for a gun, and I handed her the one of the new dragoons. She scampered towards Selen's unconscious form whilst I laid down some covering fire. Battered and exhausted, but always game. No time for chat or reassurance. She immediately got to work taking out the enemy, though her arms were visibly shaking and her aim off, but anything that kept the dialheads off balance would give me time to get all three to cover.

Lastly Ali, working as fast as I could. He almost dropped on top of me as I cut him down, a muffled screaming grunt from behind his gag as his right arm was lowered. The joint was swollen and misshapen, as well as badly bruised. I tore off the gag for him. He looked like hammered shit, and his arm hung limply at his side, since I'd lacked the foresight to bring anything with me to strap it up.

'Can you use your other arm?' I had to shout over the din. He nodded. 'Then help Kei get Selen behind that wall, she's out cold. Keep your head down!'

'No gun for me?' He managed to croak out. I took in a quick look at him. Bruised, his eyes both almost swollen shut and blackened. Probably a cracked cheekbone, a nasty cut running through the wide scar on his right temple, short blond hair bloodied, and weaving on his feet. Probably a couple of broken ribs. Coughing frothy blood, which he tried to cover up. A deep puncture wound on his side threatened to pull open as well, underneath sticky, black crusted blood.

'Let Kei deal with it!' I yelled. I tried to drag him down to ground level, but in spite of his injuries, and my armour's extra power, he was still able to use his greater mass and strength to pull free.

'Like hell. You're not coddling _her_!' He yelled back.

Like I had time for arguing with the stubborn bastard... ' _She_ can cut my balls off while I'm sleeping if I try it!'

'Yeah? _I'd_ want to look you in the eye while I did it.' He held his good hand out, and I slapped my dragoon into it without a word. He grinned evilly and limped wearily over to Kei and Selen, slumping rather than sitting next to them. His accuracy was all to shit, but the demonic screaming, cussing, and rapid, random fire seemed to be just as effective at keeping nervous soldiers at bay even if they were mechanical.

Just in time, as a fresh wave ran straight into Zero's sights to drop like flies with almost mathematical precision, and my own fire mowed down the rest. Above my head, the fighters rolled round for another run. Someone with a brain had set up a launcher however, and both Ichimonji, in my plane, and Douglas in the spare had to bank to evade fire. I only caught glimpses of their aerobatics out of the corner of my eye when they flashed across the sky, but I honestly ached to watch them at work under less trying conditions, when I had more time to appreciate their skill. Under fire, it was a distraction I had to regretfully try and ignore. Tapping Kei no the shoulder to get her attention, I jerked a thumb back to the wall behind us. I handed her the sabre, took back the pistol, and lifted Selen's tall form into my arms. With Ali and Kei firing wildly behind me, I ran for the cover. Placing Selen on the ground close to the base of the wall, I went back to help my crewmates. Kei managed at least to move under her own steam, albeit slowly, but I had to give a helping shoulder to Ali, and try not to squeeze his damaged torso too much when I placed an armoured arm around him. Even in armour he wasn't easy to handle, but at least I got him to the ground without dropping him.

The planes made another pass, scattering dialheads like skittles. 'Pull out!' I ordered over the comms. 'We're under cover: send in the Futatsuboshi to pick us up!'

'One more pass,' Ichimonji's deep baritone rumbled over the link. True to his word, he and his wingman banked and headed back, letting fly with the oscillator cannon at the bunched up machinners, sending pieces flying in all directions. A head landed almost on mine, and a piece of torso smacked into my left arm, and would have broken it if not for the reactive Nibelung armour. As it was, the servo in the elbow protested when I moved it.

Then apart from scattered gunfire and groans, the noise died down. The fighters screamed off, but hovered at a discreet distance in case of trouble. I cautiously raised my head above the wall. Coming in fast was a dark spec on my heads-up display, which hopefully was Zero's ship.

Walking towards me however, in a shiny blue-grey uniform, was Colonel Geran. Even the dust seemed to want to avoid him.

'You'll never get off this planet, Harlock. Can you really get past a blockade of seven capital ships? '

'Got past several times that number getting away from Earth's solar system,' I shouted back. 'How many pieces do you want them in?'

'Cocky little bastard, aren't you?' He sneered. 'Of course, we could make this more interesting.'

He drew his own sabre. 'Man to man, Harlock. If you're up for it.'

'Seriously?' Kei snorted derisively. I grinned at her, before realising she couldn't actually see it with my faceplate down. But he was striding forwards, towards our position, a smug sneer on his face. Briefly. With no warning he dropped to the ground, a crumpled, headless figure with a rose of red blood forming on his shiny jacket just before he fell. I looked down. Kei was lowering my sabre, a look of grim satisfaction on her face. On my blind side, I heard Ali muttering angrily for missing his own shot. Over the comms, a satisfied 'got you, you bastard...' from Zero.

I lowered my pistol. 'Bloody spoilsports, You might have left me a piece!'

Ali groaned. 'Don't make me laugh, cap'n. Hurts too bloody much.' He'd gone very pale, however, so I took the pistol off him, and swapped with Kei for my sabre back. Together we leaned him against the wall, and I ordered Kei to sit on him if she had to.

* * *

The Futatsuboshi came into land, causing a duststorm that obscured my view for several minutes, and from the sound of gunfire, Selen's crew were mopping up the resistance. Three of her people jumped over the wall to land beside me, and quickly divided their attention. Two to lay down fire, one to check over their commander.

Taking a much needed breather, I slid back the faceplate of my helmet, and knelt beside the medic, who'd been kneeling next to Selen.

'How is she?' Even to my untrained eye, her colour looked poor. She was pale, clammy, and her breathing laboured.

'Not good,' the man said sadly. 'Nasty skull fracture at least, and several broken ribs.' He turned to Kei. 'Sorry to ask given your own injuries, miss, but has she been conscious since you were next to her?'

She shook her head, and immediately regretted it, holding a hand to her bloodied hair. 'No. She passed out just after they tied her up, but she seemed a little wasted before that. Could have been the head injury...'

'Or they interrogated her,' I added. 'Can't see them passing up an opportunity to roll up her organisation, and a cocktail of drugs on top of these injuries is a bad mix.' I placed a hand on Kei's shoulder. 'How are you holding up?'

She smiled wanly. 'Splitting headache, and a few new bruises. They left me alone, mostly.' She laid her hand on top of my brassy gauntlet. 'I knew you'd come.' She added softly.

I looked at her wrists, both torn and bloody from struggling against her bonds. 'If you have that much faith in me, next time, just relax and wait for the cavalry...'

She followed my gaze and smiled ruefully. 'Old habits die hard, I guess.'

'Hey!' Ali called out plaintively. 'I'm hurt as well...' He coughed wetly, wheezing badly.

'Ali, do you really want to get the same attention I give Kei?'

He shrugged, and immediately regretted it. 'Well, as long as you keep your tongue to yourself...'

'One of these days I'll bloody well call your bluff,' I growled at him. But there were more pressing matters to attend to. 'Need a hand?' I asked Selen's medic. He nodded. Between us we lifted her carefully. There was a narrow gap in the wall nearby, and together we manoeuvred her gently through. Kei followed behind, Ali leaning heavily on her shoulder. Zero was running to meet us. He'd lost his glasses somewhere along the way and his blue eyes were noticeably reddened.

'Selen!' I let him take her limp form from me. He cradled her closely, but she lay limply in his arms and didn't stir. 'Wish I'd torn the bastard's head off his shoulders instead of just shooting it off,' he snarled. I placed my hand on his shoulder, reassuringly.

'Get her on board, we'll cover you.' I told him.

'You could just let me take her,' a feminine voice, heavily mechanically modulated, called out. I spun round, unable to pinpoint the direction. It seemed to come from everywhere.

Walking towards us, long black robe sweeping the ground, but untouched by the sandy earth or the dust that was being whipped up by a stiff evening breeze, was a figure out of a nightmare. Long metallic gold hair fell to the ground behind her as she glided towards us with an inhuman grace and precision. Her head was covered by a black, skull fitted hood, coming to a widow's peak in the centre of her forehead... and her face... oh hell, her face.

Humanlike, in terms of composition, perhaps. This was the machine face from the monument in the city: Eyes, nose, mouth... an idealised 'heart shaped' face such as a child might draw. A porcelain pale doll's face, with a pointed chin. Narrow, elongated black eyes, and if they were the windows to the soul, that soul was an empty void. The mouth was thin, a red slit. The nose long, purely decorative. Perfectly symmetrical, that face, and utterly inhuman taken as a whole. No emotion registered at all in that blank expression - except, maybe pride, or disdain. The robe she wore... it was part of her, not clothing. I wasn't even sure there was a humanoid frame under it. That too was a heavy, abyssal darkness that I struggled to look away from, as if staring too closely could conjure something unimaginably cold and alien up from its depths. Blue stars seemed to twinkle in that abyss, and that gave me the clue to the real nature of the machine queen.

Dark matter. At the heart of even _this_ machine, dark matter, as it had been at the root of all our troubles of late. I shouldn't have been surprised: it had been obvious for some time that Loki and his followers had been at work on this world for a very long time. Meddling, guiding, and ultimately using the results of that patient progress for their own terrible agenda.

This, then, in front of me now, was the true form of Queen Promethium. A woman once known as Yayoi. Selen's younger sister. Maetel and Emeraldas' mother. She'd been young, and idealistic, and loving once. All of those and more.

I wondered silently what Harlock would have thought of her.

'I could save her,' she continued, smoothly. 'A new body...'

'She'd rather die,' Zero snapped harshly, holding Selen even more closely. 'And I'd kill both of us before I allowed you to do to her what you've done to yourself. Yayoi - can't you see what you've become?'

'I am perfect!' She declaimed, raising her arms above her head to the iron skies.

I shuddered. Perfect, yes... but a kind of perfection that no human should aspire to - or could aspire to without losing what made them human. Could she not see what she'd sacrificed?

'Truly now the Queen of a Thousand Years. And more, should I choose! All of humanity can embrace the perfection I offer them. No more dependency on the whims of nature for survival.' Her arms lowered, she held them towards Zero and the limp Selen in his arms as though inviting them to walk into that frigid embrace. 'Death no longer holds us in thrall. Finally, we can be free of the vagaries of a world that only ever wants to destroy us.'

'Oh, shove it.' Zero spat angrily. I heartily agreed with the sentiment.

Her troops gathered around her, but made no move. Silent. Obedient. Motionless.

Except for one. A young man, by his face, but either prematurely silvered, or platinum blond, it was hard to tell. A narrow face, rangy build. He walked forward to stand next to her, and Zero's sharp intake of breath suggested he knew the man.

'Frank!'

'Rei. Always the rebel, I see. Even now.'

'Still the queen's lapdog, brother. What the hell are you doing here?'

'My job. Which is what you should have done.' Zero shook his head in denial, and the other man took a step forward.

His queen raised an arm to stop him.

'Enough, Commander Leopard. We are not here to indulge your family squabbles. We are here to ask for the return of what you have taken from me. Hand over my daughter, and you can walk free. I know she is close. My beautiful, sweet Maetel. I do not care for your quarrel with the Nibelung. Take it elsewhere, it matters little. Give her back to me, and you will see I can be generous. Withhold her...'

'Is this where you start threatening?' I asked. She turned to face me.

'Ah, the young pirate who doesn't yet know his place.' The scorn she poured out in that short sentence was almost palpable.

'You're not having either of the girls, not while I still breathe,' I told her bluntly.

'Then you die.' She turned away from me with an arrogant dismissal of my consequence that was all too human, and as if this was a signal, the silver haired man raised his pistol and aimed it at me. The troops around him raised their light carbines in unison.

I raised my rifle again, and beside me felt, rather than saw, Kei do the same with her pistol. Inwardly, I sighed. The odds might be impossible, but we'd go down fighting. My finger tightened on the trigger.

Before anyone could fire, a shot rang out. Sabre rifle, by the sound. Not mine. The mechanical body of the queen stumbled, and then scattered into a glittering shower of particles, swirled away by a passing dust devil. All of us turned in the direction of the shot, and with impeccable dramatic timing, the dust shrouding the area parted in the wind to reveal two slender figures standing about a hundred yards away in front of one of Arcadia's bullet transports.

The one clad in a red flightsuit lowered the sabre she'd fired, her long red hair blowing freely in the breeze.


	21. Chapter 21

I was braced for an immediate response fro the Lar Metallian forces. It didn't come. The silver haired commander - with Geran dead, I guessed a promotion might be in the offing - didn't make a move. He just stood there, smirking slightly, and looking down his long nose at the rabble in front of him.

'Why aren't they shooting?' Kei whispered urgently in my ear. 'She just killed their queen...'

'Did she?' I asked. I looked at the smirking commander... Leopard? Zero had once mentioned a half brother, late one night and half way down a bottle of a vintage single malt. ' _He_ doesn't seem too bothered.'

Raised voices from the direction of the Arcadia's bullet suggested the girls were into a major argument. But all voices were still as the sand rose in a twirling dervish, and reformed into the shape of the machinners' queen.

Emeraldas' wordless, anguished scream of raw anger expressed more sentiments than I felt capable of right now. I just wanted to lean on my sabre and take a long, much needed rest. 'I guess it takes more than that to kill you,' I said mildly.

That red slash of a mouth curled into a mirthless smile. 'I am everywhere, and nowhere. Even if you destroy my body, that which is my true self cannot be destroyed. '

'Distributed consciousness,' Tochiro muttered in my ear. 'She might not even be on this planet...'

'Wouldn't a warp link to get around any time lag take a huge amount of energy?'

'She's apparently partly made of dark matter mixed with nanotech...'

I saw his point. Meanwhile, she paraded in front of us as though savouring the moment. 'Do you still believe you can fight your way out of this?' She laughed. 'Guns, and swords, and capes... against the future? You cannot win this fight, Harlock. Tell your people to lay down their arms. Surrender, and I might be persuaded to let you all live. Your crewman is dying, I can have him saved. Join me, and you can be a part of my dream.'

Ali, still leaning heavily on Kei, answered with a pithy "screw you".

'What he said,' I replied. I shifted my grip on the sabre rifle's trigger. 'It's not _my_ dream.'

Her disdain was almost a living thing. 'Your dream? Of what? Green worlds populated by mayflies? A humanity dependent upon the vagaries of nature to survive on a marginal edge, always with one foot in the grave?' she sneered. 'A nightmare.'

'Better that, than dependent upon their own kind for sustenance. You aren't freeing humanity from one dependency, you're chaining them to another. One that will turn them into vampiric, soulless parasites. I'd rather die fighting, than surrender to that future.'

Her black robed firm shrugged. 'So be it.' She raised an ivory white hand, and her troops raised their weapons.

'Wait!'

Maetel's voice. Promethium's hand paused in mid air, still poised to give the order. 'Mother, please, don't do this!' She began to walk towards us, her white dress fluttering in the breeze, ignoring her sister's frantic hand clutching at her arm. She pushed back, just the once, and the unexpected resistance actually overbalanced her twin, and she stumbled, a look of hurt on her face.

'Then come to me, my beloved. Come.'

'May - no!' Emeraldas' voice was a desperate plea. Calmly, oh so calmly, the fairer girl turned to her sister. 'At least let me come with you!' Emeraldas pleaded. She'd dropped the sabre - Kei's, by the look of it. 'I won't leave you!'

'You can, and you will,' Maetel told her, coldly. 'I don't need you. I don't want you.' She turned her back on her stricken sister, and continued walking slowly until she stood next to me, looking up. Still so very calm. Not even her eyes betrayed any uncertainty or fear. 'Harlock. You promised me if I ever needed you help, I had only to ask?'

'I meant it,' I told her, wondering where the hell this was leading. She smiled sadly.

'I'm not asking. Not today. Can I hold you to that?'

'Maetel...'

'Are you a man of your word, or not? A man of his word would not go back on that, even if he believes someone is doing something very, _very_ stupid.' She dropped her voice to the slightest whisper. 'Whatever happens, keep her away from mother. Will you do that for me? She hasn't got the strength to fight her. Not yet. Maybe never.'

'And you?'

A sad smile. 'I won't fight her. That's _my_ strength.' She didn't look at me again, just carried on walking, until she stood between our small group and her mother. 'I only ask one thing, mother, and I promise I will go with you if you grant it.'

'Ask it.'

'Let them go. All of them. Let them leave Lar Metal unharmed, and allow their ships to leave the system unmolested.'

The queen cocked her head on one side, those slitted black voids staring at us. They fixed on Emeraldas, kneeling in the dusty earth. 'Not that one.'

Maetel raised her chin, daring her mother to look her in the eye. 'All of them, mother. Please. For me?'

The queen held her arms out to her younger daughter. 'Very well. For you, my sweet daughter. Come to me. You have my word, they will be allowed to leave the system without challenge by my fleet.'

Her troops lowered their weapons, and as she enveloped Maetel in her arms, she appeared - as much as that horrific porcelain mask could do so - to give me a triumphant glare. 'What are you waiting for, pirate. Get your people and my poor, dying sister off my planet. Your safe passage has been bought for you. I'm sure owing your lives to the whims of a child will be a suitable blow to your pride. Go!'

'Come.' I told Kei quietly, taking Ali's other arm and helping them to the bullet. Zero and his people were already heading for the Futatsuboshi, and looking back briefly I saw his brother stop him and murmur something to him that made him startle, beford he pulled away and carried Selen to the safety of the ship.

I left Kei to get Ali settled, and stopped next to Emeraldas.'Come on, get up.' I didn't hold a hand out to her. This she had to do for herself. She looked up at me, unshed tears in those emerald eyes. I knew that hopeless look. I'd seen it in my own too many times over the past eight years. 'She wants you to live, you idiot.'

'Why didn't you stop her?' She burst out angrily. Anger was good, I could deal with it, and better aimed at me than turned inward.

'Because I promised I'd help her if she asked me to, She didn't ask.' I held my hand out to her. 'If you want, you can go with your aunt - or you can come with me.'

'And fight for you?' She snorted.

' _With_ me.' I corrected. 'It's your call.'

She took my hand, and I pulled her to her feet. 'Good call. Now run - I want off this rock before someone changes their mind.' Pulling her behind me, I ran for the bullet. Kei was taking off even as we hurtled through the hatch. It closed behind us and we both fell into the acceleration seats, Kei putting the thing into a nearly vertical climb to reach the orbiting Arcadia as fast as possible.

'Do you think she meant it?' Kei called out from the pilot's seat. 'Will she let us leave?'

'As far as the edge of the system, yes. Get Yattaran on line, tell him we're coming in hot, have Doc on standby, and to let Zero know to get the hell out as fast as he can. The Prometheus as well - both ships need to get off our heading, and out of our way. If we jump this close, Lar Metal's ships can track our trajectory. I'm guessing they'll follow us outside the system before they attack.'

'We could _all_ just run for it...' she pointed out.

'I'm not bloody running now. I didn't do it back in the solar system, and I won't do it here. If I run now, I'll always be running. I might as well just turn myself in and save us all a lifetime of looking over our shoulders.'

'We can take seven ships, with the help of the Prometheus. ..'

'And what message does that send? Besides, she said _her_ fleet...'

'Ah. Oh. Good point. Hold on, we're going in.'

* * *

She brought the little craft in with textbook precision, even after several hours imprisoned and left hanging in the middle of a dust storm. I left Ali to be ministered to by Doc, and high tailed it to the bridge. I shed that damn cloak back onto the back of the captain's chair as fast as I could get it off, annoying the hell out the the bird who flew up into the upper conduits that criss-crossed the bridge ceiling with an angry sqwark. The armour would have to wait.

'Can we get the oscillator offloaded at short notice?' I asked Yattaran. He nodded briefly.

'What's the plan?' he asked. I took the helm.

'We get out system, fast. Rendezvous at these co-ordinates.' I tapped them into his console. 'Send them to the Prometheus and the Futatsuboshi. No need to be subtle. We _want_ to be followed. We lure them back to where we blew that machine. Best place to shake them, since the area is already warped.'

'Did we do that?' Kei asked as she strolled onto the bridge. She got Sabu to vacate her station with a meaningful jerk of her head. I looked her over. Dust streaked, bloodied, pale, and her flightsuit had seen better days.

'Yes, you did, when the machine blew. Nice work, by the way. Now get your arse down to the infirmary. You look like death warmed over.' I said bluntly.

'You need me,' she pointed out.

'Not keeling over I don't. Sabu can handle it.' She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to protest. 'Kei, don't make me turn that into an order. I can and will tell one of the guys to put you over his shoulder if I have to.'

I called Yasu up. 'Take Miss Kei to the infirmary. Make sure she gets there safely. If she gives you any trouble, pick her up and carry her if you have to. Got it?'

He didn't look too happy about it, but she sighed, and allowed him to usher her out gently.

'She'll make you pay for that, later,' my first mate observed with a chuckle.

'Oh, I've no doubt about that.' I turned my attention back to the main screens. 'I know my maths is rusty, but that's an awful lot more than seven ships...'

'The Queen Mother Urs is holding back. According to the records from the Futatsuboshi, the others in the rear are the Gloriana, the Ameterasu, the Himeko, the Empress Wu, the Andromache, and the Cassiopeia. Leading the charge is our old friend the Mephisto and it seems to have brough along some reinforcements. Tiered class - at least a dozen. And two more Grade class.' Sabu reeled off the inventory like a shopping list. 'I think we pissed someone off...'

'No shit,' Yattaran muttered. 'How did they get here so damn fast?'

'Probably not on our account. There's a treaty, remember?'

'Huh. Well, we're being hailed. It's that stuffed shirt on the Mephisto. ..'

'Video feed.' I ordered. 'Hopefully if I can keep him talking, he won't notice we're leading him by the nose.'

* * *

Sure enough, Captain Hoshino stood to attention as though he had a rod up his back, arms behind him, legs apart. The very picture of the uptight, upwardly mobile officer. Though his upward career came about only because most of the better officers had recently suffered severe casualties. He was young - twenty-eight or nine - Isora's age - and indeed, had been one of his friends, although my brother hadn't rated him much as an officer. One thing you could count on my brother for was knowing who to keep near by on his way up. Hoshino hadn't been one of the close group of his fellows, although Isora had kept him thinking that he was. 'Lieutenant Yama. You are accused of acts of piracy in this sector, including the reckless endangerment and ruthless slaughter of helpless civilians on the planets of Mistral and Lar Metal. Stand down your crew and prepare to be boarded.'

'Hoshino, you were obviously born an idiot, but that doesn't mean you have to be one when you grow up!'

Ichimonji's voice, on the audio only feed, dripping sarcasm. In spite of myself, I grinned. 'I don't know what you've been told, but it's a pack of lies if they're blaming Harlock. Stand your fleet down and we can discuss this...'

'There's nothing to discuss, Colonel. Your planet has just seceded from the Gaia Sanction. Our co-operation is at an end, and any attempt to interfere further in preventing me from apprehending a wanted fugitive will be taken as a hostile act.'

I pantomimed an explosive sneeze. My crew looked round in surprise; the reaction from the other end was gratifying. 'I _knew_ it was you, you little prick!'

'Seriously, Hoshino? I was twelve, get over it. You however are still the spiteful little bully who thought it was funny to trample a little girl's garden when you were seventeen. One of us has grown up. Do you really believe that I'm responsible for the atrocities you mention, or that one ship is capable of depopulating entire planets? Forget what you've been told and _think_ for once.'

'I'm paid to do my job, Yama. Something you never seemed to have grasped in your short career as Isora's bitch.' Smug self righteousness practically oozed over the link.

'See, this is the problem with career, military,' I said blandly, as though delivering a lecture to my crew. 'No sense of humour, an over inflated sense of their own importance and a lobotomy performed on their ability to think for themselves.'

Yattaran spluttered. I just grinned into the holovid. 'You could just pull your forces back, Captain. I'm not the enemy here, but if you persist in trying to arrest me, I will fight back.'

'Who said anything about arrest, Yama? The warrant says dead or alive. I'm not picky. So please, by all means, resist.' He had a cocky smirk on his face I just ached to put my fist into.

'I bet you say that to all the girls.' I crossed my arms and lounged with as much insolence as I could muster against the wheel. Not easy in armour. 'By the way, you'd better check your arrest warrant: the last update from the fleet I saw was for Captain Harlock, not for a lieutenant Yama. I'd _hate_ for you to have to let me go on a technicality.'

'You know bloody well who you are, you little pissant,' he snarled. I let him have my most annoying smirk.

'That's true. Shame _you_ seem to be a little confused...' I sneaked a look over at Yattaran's console. Just a little further... 'Kill the connection.' The image vanished. 'Mimay - give us a little more power, I want it to look as if we're making a run for it. Yattaran - helm. I need to get this thing off. I can't steer in it. Give me about five minutes.' At least whilst making the jump we weren't at too much risk.

* * *

I ducked behind the captain's chair to strip the armour off, helped by Maji. Someone kindly ran for my boots and I yanked them on over the pants of my flightsuit just in time for us to hit the edges of the warped area. A ghostly blue fire illuminated the blackness of space, visible in flickers even through our dark matter cloud.

'Whatever you have planned, Harlock, better be good.' Ichimonji's voice came over the comms. 'Don't tax my poor, lobotomised brain by making me think too hard, will you?'

'Oh, sorry, were you listening back there?' I asked innocently

Yattaran sniggered.

'Funny boy.' Ichimonji replied testily.

'Just get the Futatsuboshi out of here. In a few minutes all hell is going to break loose. The far edge of that disturbance isn't far for a ship as powerful as the Prometheus. Yattaran will send you the co-ordinates. Get past it and punch it. They won't be able to track you through the interference.'

'And you?'

'We're going to lay a little egg that should make them think twice about following you.' I took a firm hold of the wheel, and brought us about. We still had a decent head start on the fleet behind us, but they were closing. 'All hands to battlestations. We can't target anything through that once we get there, but we can spray and pray. Keep them off balance. Stay alert - someone could get lucky.'

True to Promethium's word, once clear of the farthest orbit of Lar Metal's solar system, Promethium's fleet joined the Gaia Fleet ships like sharks circling their prey on footage I'd seen of Earth's oceans.

'There's rather a lot of them,' Sabu observed nervously. Yattaran laughed.

'Call this a lot? You should have seen how many they sent against us at Earth...'

'Not to rain on our own parade there, first mate, but we tricked them, and had a little outside help. Plus, those were mostly Tiered and Grade class vessels, and weren't even in our weight class.' I pointed out.

'Which is what they've sent..' he replied.

I pointed to the Lar Metallian ships. 'These guys have been adding Nibelung tech. That's a game changer.'

'Then perhaps another piece on your side of the board would help?'

Ichimonji's voice.

'I asked you to escort the Futatsuboshi!'

'Consider her escorted. They're free and clear. I thought we could lend a hand.. unless you have some deep seated moral objection to such?'

I looked around the bridge. 'Do we want to let them play with us?' I asked. A ripple of laughter ran around the men. 'I take it we can spare them a few targets. Okay, Colonel. Do your thing, but try to stay out of the warped zone. It'll play havoc with your systems.'

'Take the straw out of the egg, captain! Head straight for the centre of the formation, break them up, then start picking them off. Keep disrupting every attempt to reform. If they follow the standard rule book, they'll break off to regroup.'

Even as he spoke the Prometheus was wheeling round to attack the fleet, nibbling at the sides with cannon and missiles.

I gripped the wheel, legs braced. 'All hands, battle stations. Main battery fire at will. All ahead full!'

The Arcadia's main cannon cleared a couple of Tiered class vessels out of our way with ease. The Mephisto dodged, unwilling to commit, and almost ran straight into the Prometheus' line of fire. I smiled inwardly. Hoshino really didn't have the will to commit to battle. A glorified logistics clerk at heart, Isora had called him. Not a candidate for a tactical command. The fleet really _was_ desperate...

* * *

Under the combination of our fire and seeing the Arcadia's red-eyed skull heading straight for them, the Lar Metallian ships scattered. The Prometheus, far more manoeuvrable than she looked, picked off a couple, who drifted out of the fray, engines fryed and weapons inoperative.

'That gunnery crew ain't half bad,' Levary commented from below. 'Some of you lot could learn a trick or two - get those bloody guns on target, you lazy lot. Are you going to let a bunch of part-time soldier boys get the better of us? I want engines out of commission and weapon arrays slagged!'

'Are you sure he weren't a pirate in another life?' Yattaran asked, in a stage whisper. The crew laughed.

I brought the Arcadia round for another run. 'Guess we were a bad influence!' Three more ships from the Gaia fleet went down. The Lar Metallian vessels were proving tougher - far more manoeuvrable for a start, and longer ranged weapons. The Prometheus took a couple of hits, but nothing that slowed her down. 'Time to start herding them. Colonel - can you limp a little? Draw them into the zone?'

'Keep snapping at their heels, captain, we'll do our part!'

True to form, when we let the pressure off, they formed up on cue. The Prometheus, with us now harrying them from behind and the sides, made a good show of offering an easy target. The Mephisto, presumably sensing an easy mark, led the attack, and cut around to try and launch a flank attack...

. ..which curled around the Prometheus like a whiplash, missing her completely.

'You know, I read the theory,' Yattaran smirked. 'But it's something to see in action!'

'Film it for later,' I ground out. 'Colonel - you might want to bug out. This is where we start winging it...'

'We hear you. You'd better make good on your talk though.'

'Oh, trust me,' I said, mentally crossing my fingers. 'This'll work.'

The Prometheus peeled off and went IN-SKIP. Once she was clear, I turned to Mimay, at her post in front of the dark matter engine. 'Our turn!'

* * *

Our own jump was shorter. We were well inside the disrupted area of space, but clear of the debris field, which now lay between us and the fleet. I suppose I could have made a run for it. Hell, they couldn't track us through this mess. The hypergate was still operational, and dark matter shot through with that eerie blue light floated in attenuated clusters, like a kind of space born jellyfish. Periodically some of it was drawn through the gate. It needed shutting down, and I had a plan which might kill two birds with one stone. Maybe.

'Bloody stupid if they try shooting whilst they're bunched up like that,' Yattaran smirked nastily. 'Ooh, whaddya know, some idiot just tried it...' On the battle screen, one of the Gaia fleet vessels opened fire and the resulting arcing plasma twisted back on itself and took a nice chunk out of one of its fellows. None of the first volley came even close to us, but I made a show of dodging anyway, careful not to run into a randomly skewed beam. Not as easy as it sounded. But I wanted to edge us closer to the gate without looking as though that was what I was doing. Hopefully they'd think I was just being cautious.

'Fire at will,' I ordered. 'Make them think we're trying to make a battle of it!'

The main and secondary batteries both fired, shots arcing wide of their chosen targets, but with the fleet giving us so many to choose from, a couple of shots landed, to cheers from the crew. 'Don't get cocky!' I cautioned. 'We can't lock on any more than they can. Just keep them distracted. Maji!'

'Captain?'

'When we're in range, launch that oscillator. I want it right in the mouth of that gate.'

'Are you sure it's safe?' Carlos asked. 'I mean, the old captain wanted to use them to reboot the universe. What if setting it off sets off some kind of chain reaction?'

'Idiot,' Yattaran snapped at him. 'Those things are Earth tech, designed for spacial clearance on shipping routes to remove navigation hazards. I'd say this qualifies. Dialled back down to the correct operating parameters, they're as safe as any ordinance ever is. Which means if Maji screws this up, we're fucked.'

'Remind me never to ask you to give a motivational speech,' I told him, making another spin of the wheel which ostensibly took us out of reach of a shot, but mainly turned the cargo bay towards the gate. 'Maji!'

'Device away, captain.' His voice came over the comms. 'Thrusters we added are working just fine. It'll reach the gate in thirty seconds. '

'Mimay!' I called out. 'Sabu - lay in the course I gave you. Wait for my mark.'

I counted down the seconds. Too soon, and we couldn't be sure the detonation signal would get through. Too late... Well, it would test any theories among the crew regarding how much damage we could come back from...

'Jump!'

There was a disconcerting lurch as we entered IN-SKIP. I was sure for a moment I'd blown it, but we were free and clear. 'Readings?' I asked.

'Right on target, according to the long range scan. Nothing's getting through that area for a long time.' Yattaran confirmed. I breathed a sigh of relief.

'Hopefully that put the wind up the fleet at least.'

'Might have taken a couple out.' He grinned evilly. 'Always a bonus.' Leaning over the gantry he called down to Carlos. 'You'll notice the universe is still here, you big girl's blouse!'

'Be nice,' I chided. 'I had _my_ fingers crossed as well...' That got another laugh from the crew. I handed the helm to Yattaran. 'Meet up with the others. Give me a call when we reach the Rendez-vous. I'm popping down to the infirmary.'

* * *

'How is he?' I asked Doc, looking in through the observation window to where Ali was lying, various tubes running into him, bandages round his torso, head, shoulder... and those were just the parts I could see.

'Tough as old boots, that one, but it was close. He lost a lot of blood, but that stab wound missed anything vital. Mostly broken ribs, a lot of nasty bruising and a dislocated shoulder, which I had to put back. The internal bleeding wasn't as bad as I feared, once I got him under a scanner. Punctured a lung with one of those ribs, and some damage to his kidneys, but thanks to this ship, everything seems to be healing. I'm not sure how much damage it would take to kill one of the longer serving men, but he came close.'

'Might not be just the longer serving crew,' I muttered. 'We were all exposed on Earth, to levels far greater than the ship puts out normally.' My hand drifted to the scar on my cheek, which had healed in minutes. Pity the stuff hadn't done anything about my sight. It healed, but didn't restore. You kept the scars you earned, I guessed.

A sudden chill ran down the back of my neck. Dark matter... and nanotech. Maybe I _should_ take her up on her suggestion to remove my damaged eye once we'd caught our breath. If nothing else, no more headaches...

'Where's Kei?'I asked, seeing the infirmary only had one occupant. 'I sent her down with Yasu.'

'Oh, she kicked up a fuss so I told her to get some rest. Apart from a nasty bump to the head which didn't seem to have done any lasting damage, and a few bruises and cuts, she's fine. Nothing a few days bed rest won't cure.'

'Thanks.' I turned to leave, and she tapped me on the arm.

'Bed _rest_ , I said, and I mean it. No hanky panky.'

I patted her hand and removed it gently from my arm. 'Doc, I have _no_ idea _what_ you're talking about...' I told her with as straight a face as I could manage. I heard her muttering expletives even as I made my increasingly unsteady way down the corridor. Bed rest sounded just _fine_ to me.

* * *

Kei was fast asleep when I reached my quarters, her fair hair spread over the pillow. Bruises mottled her skin, over the scars on her back and shoulder, and several on her arm , visible where it lay on top of the sheet. Bandages were wrapped around both of her wrists, covering the torn flesh from where she'd struggled against her bonds. I tucked the sheet up around her a little more, careful not to wake her. She looked exhausted; pale and drawn. I headed for the shower, carelessly stripping as I went, though careful not to drop my boots.

Once under the welcome blast of hot water, I winced as it hit various scratches and cuts. Even under armour and a decent flightsuit, I'd still gathered some nasty grazes in my less than perfect landing, and the soap stung as I lathered legs and arms. Thankfully they seemed to be healing well enough, so I gritted my teeth and bore it, leaning with both hands on the wall of the cubicle, letting the hot water blast some of the aches away. Once the automatic rationing cut the water out, I luxuriated in the warm air of the drying field for as long as I could, then regretfully switched it off and headed out. I could shave later. Right now, I just need to sleep, preferably for a week.

Eschewing my usual tendency to flop down onto the bed all at once, I almost crept in, careful still not to disturb my sleeping beauty. Even as tired as she was, however, she still gravitated towards me, an inbuilt tropism I always appreciated. Gently, I wrapped one arm around her, placed my head on the pillow and was out before I knew it. Time enough later to wrap up the details...

* * *

 _Details_...

I didn't wake until a cold hard beak stabbed me in the small of the back, then kept nudging repeatedly at my exposed shoulder until I turned over blearily to look at the miscreant, who, now he had my undivided attention, let off a screeching 'cark!' in my face.

'Oh, piss off,' I grumbled, pushing its beak out of my face. 'Who let you in?'

'I did,' Kei said sleepily. She snuggled back up to me. 'Bloody thing was shrieking his head off outside the door. Between that and your snoring...'

'I do _not_ snore...' It came out as a whine,which earned a little giggle. Content now he had some attention, the bird settled on the corner of the foot of the bed, and started preening. Kei laid her head on my chest and I let myself drift a little, whilst I pondered how to address the little matter of _someone_ disobeying a direct order...

'That was quite some rescue,' she said softly into my collarbone. 'But you're pissed about it being necessary, aren't you?'

'I'm trying to come up with a reason why your _captain_ doesn't either shake you till your teeth rattle, or make you and Ali clean out every head on the ship for a week with a toothbrush. The part of me that _isn't_ your captain wants to squeeze you until you squeak and beg you on both knees _never_ to do that to him again. The part of _that_ part who wants to live a little longer however knows better than to try...'

I felt her smile against my shoulder. 'You are an awful lot of people, aren't you?'

'Only around you.' I kissed the top of her head. 'But have I made my point?'

'Loud and clear, captain.'

'Good. As punishment, when we get back to Tabito, I plan on handing your ass over to Ichimonji and his equally demanding wingman for a week, to instill some much needed discipline into your flying...' I didn't bother added that I planned on joining her. I was not going to pass the opportunity up if I could help it.

'And Ali?' she asked, trying to hide a gleeful smile. Punishment, hah. She might chafe under a stickler like Dantetsu, but she'd eat up the chance to learn from an ace. Or two.

'Oh, don't you worry. I have plans for Ali...'

* * *

_Details..._

'You want me to do what!?' Ali yelled. I saw Doc turning her head in the outer room and shushed him. 'Babysitting a group of scientists?' He continued in a more reasonable volume.

'Guarding people very important to me, and making sure they can carry out their work safely. Loki and his people are still out there. We cut short the signal. We didn't stop it. Tochiro estimates even with the hypergates, the signal will still take about twenty-five to thirty years to reach the Hourglass Nebula. We need Professor Daiba's research on Niflheim. We need to know if there is any clue left behind to help us work out what might happen when that signal reaches its destination.'

He muttered under his breath but made no further complaint. I did have one other favour to ask. 'It's just for a few weeks, anyway. We'll swing by to pick you up. But I do have something else to ask you to do. Regarding your old career. ..'

He shot me a wary look, from blackened, bloodshot eyes. 'That's ancient history.'

'Niflheim has had similar tectonic upheaval to Earth, Ali. Dark matter has a peculiar effect on land masses. Just run an expert eye over it whilst you're there. One day we might get a chance to see Earth, maybe help her in her recovery. It can't hurt.' I left it there, leaving him to consider it, at least.

I didn't bother to elaborate on the number of weeks. They'd be edging well into months, but a little down time running errands for my uncle once the old bugger had the bit between his teeth would hopefully make my point about orders.

* * *

_Details..._

We arrived in timely fashion around Tabito, but no Futatsuboshi in orbit, just the Prometheus.

'He's heading for a world where they have an old friend,' Dantetsu explained over the holo. 'The planet's a small one: Carmilla. There are facilities there that might be able to help her.'

Selen, apparently, had still not regained consciousness. Deeply worrying, but there was little I could do about it. The Arcadia's dark matter wouldn't be much help without a sustained exposure, and she hadn't spent long enough on board for that. I wished them both well, and seriously hoped Zero had the sense to suggest they both take a back seat for a while. The two of them had been fighting one battle or another since before I was born. They'd surely earned a break.

'Any news from Destiny?' I asked.

He sighed, running his fingers through his long hair. 'Hoshino was telling the truth at least. We've seceded. The SDF has already had several clashes with Gaia Fleet ships. Seems they're sending more ships out here to defend machinners transports and the allied worlds than they ever did when people actually needed them. That must have been some treaty they signed with Promethium. Incidentally, they are really pushing that story that you're responsible for Mistral and other atrocities. Footage of the destruction of that antenna on Lar Metal was neatly spliced with a nice shot or two of those body dumps nearby waiting to be shovelled onto cargo ships... they're claiming those are the civilian casualties of your attacks.'

'...ing lying bastards,' was the muffled reply from Yattaran at my side. I seconded the sentiment.

'Our dirigent knows the truth, Harlock,' Douglas added from his spot next to his commander. 'She has made it clear to our ships that so long as the Arcadia commits no acts of piracy against our vessels or worlds, no arms will be raised against you. I have a feeling we'll be needed the help of the Arcadia before this is finally over. Assuming you're agreeable.'

'Generous,' Kei murmured sarcastically so that only I could hear. I elbowed her in the ribs. Destiny's dirigent _was_ being genuinely helpful. Slapping a helping hand away was a legacy of the old Harlock. Friendship wasn't to be spat on.

'Just so long as you know we don't come when called..'

'Keep doing what you do best, Harlock,' Ichimonji answered tartly. 'You're at your best being a pain in the arse. Leave the actual soldiering to the professionals!'

'That pain would be the stick you keep sitting on, Dan.' I shot back good humoredly. 'See you groundside. I still have the professors to sort out.'

Which... would take time. Hopefully not too long, but my uncle's research was needed now more than ever.

* * *

_Details..._

Emeraldas had taken over Kei's old quarters. She'd dumped her sister's meagre belongings into storage. I dropped the sabre rifle on the bed. 'Kei says to keep it. You need it more than she does.'

She nodded.

'If you want to go with Selen, Ichimonji says he can get you to Carmilla...'

A shake. 'That old friend of theirs- Hannibal - creeps me out. I know he's some kind of big shot hero from the old days, but he always made me nervous. I'd like to stay, if you'll have me?'

I sat on the edge of the bed. 'If that's what you want.'

'For a while. I'd like to learn... from Kei, from you... how to fight. How to be strong. One day...' she trailed off, and I saw briefly the girl, not the princess. Lost, alone. Abandoned.

'About Maetel. ..'

'I don't blame you,' she said quietly. 'I know what she's like. No-one ever sees her coming. She played both of us. Maybe one day, I'll get to have it out with her. Maybe even take down our mother together. But if it comes down to it, I'll take them both down if I have to.' Her matter of fact tone was worse than out and out anger. I just wished she'd blow a gasket and let it out. It would have been healthier. Sometimes her prickly animosity struck me as being almost as bad as her sister's tendency to refuse to engage at all.

'You can make a life here, if you want to,' I told her gently. I wanted to tell her I understood, at least partly, what it felt like to have family turn on you. But I hesitated, and the moment was gone. I stood up. 'Your call, kid.'

Just before I reached the door she spoke.

'Thank you, Harlock.'

I nodded once, without looking round.

It was a start.

* * *

_Details..._

'Word is it took three weeks to guide those ships out of the zone where we blew the oscillator,' Tochiro told me, sounding pleased. 'Fried their navigation circuits and it'll be weeks before they're out of dry dock. Probably need a complete re-wire.' He sounded pleased at the result. 'I'm relieved, in a way. That's one inhabited world without a planet busting bomb sitting on it.'

'It might be worth collecting a few more and stashing them somewhere safe.' I mused. I shared his relief. I'd never be comfortable with the oscillators being out in the wild. If we could use them, so could others. If they found them. 'We might need them, one day.'

'Ah. I'd prefer to hope that we won't. But nothing's certain.'

'I like to be prepared. Right now though, we're going to be a while dealing with the more immediate consequences of Nibelung interference.' I sighed. 'There's a war coming, and it won't be confined to one solar system, like the Homecoming War.'

Mars... Grand Technologia... Metabloody.. Lar Metal. And other metropolitan worlds would follow. Only Destiny so far had stood firm and said 'no', although they would not stop any citizen from seeking mechanisation, no conversion plants would be permitted there. But the djinn was out of the bottle now. It couldn't be stuffed back in. Even if Maetel, by some miracle found a way to stop her mother, mechanisation would still spread.

'Can we make _any_ kind of meaningful stand?' I asked. Mimay glided up behind me.

'Hope.' She said simply. 'If nothing else, you give them hope. The Gaia Sanction and Lar Metal would not make so much effort to discredit you if they were not afraid of what you stand for.'

'It's scant consolation, sometimes,' I murmured. But sometimes, as Kei had said, you just had to accept the small victories...

A small holochip appeared in the machine in front of me. Tochiro's hologram cleared its throat. 'I decoded some of those files you left with me. I'm not sure what the significance of some of them is, but I haven't finished with the data yet. After... let me know if you need to talk...'

Mimay tipped her head on one side quizzically, but I didn't feel like enlightening her. This... was personal. 'We should head for our little acquisition after we finish here,' I suggested, changing the subject. 'There's a nice suite with a four poster and an en suite hot tub with mine and Kei's names on it.. and a nice internal dock big enough to take the Arcadia...'

'Deathshadow Island.'

'Pardon?'

'I thought we could call it Deathshadow Island,' he repeated. 'Unless you had other ideas?'

I forced a smile. 'I've no particular thoughts on it. But it has a nice ring to it,' I added as I walked away, turning the disk over in my fingers. Tabito was a nice place, but we risked the people there if we used it as a permanent base. The alternative... well, time would tell: Our unexpected bonus when sticking it to a couple of Gaia councillors: A mobile resupply and repair dock left over from before the war, converted into a floating pleasure station for the Gaia Sanction elite. I liked the idea of having a place we could relax on that wasn't the Arcadia. The ship was our home, but everyone needs a break. I figured we'd earned it, once a few last loose ends were tied up. For a little while, at least.

It was going to be a long war...

* * *

Kei found me, later, sitting at my desk, staring at the holographic display. I'd stopped actually seeing it some time earlier.

'You have the look of a man whose puppy just died,' She laid a hand on my shoulder. 'Do you want to share?'

I pushed the display over to her, wordlessly. As she read, her grip tightened on my shoulder.

'Oh, Harlock.' She perched on the edge of the desk. 'All this time... and no-one ever told you?'

'The file was buried, apparently. By the Holy Father's personal secretary.' I had the name, at least. S. Namino. 'You remember, Promethium taunted me with this when we stood in front of Nami's memorial? _An accident I didn't cause..._ I always wondered how the hell we got out of there alive at all. If the generator had been responsible we should have been at the centre of the blast. Now I know.'

The report was clear on that, at least. Oh, the generator _had_ blown, but it hadn't caused the massive explosion that had ripped through the greenhouse complex. The cause of that was officially 'unknown' , although traces of volatile plant compounds had been found in extraordinary concentrations. All I'd done was put the lights out.

'Your brother's name is on the report distribution. The date...'

'A year after the explosion. I know. A year ago I might have torn his head off for this. Now... I just feel...' I shrugged. 'I'm not sure. He knew, all these years, twisting the knife... hell, letting me twist it in my own gut, knowing I didn't cost him his legs, or Nami her life outside of a box. And yet he still hated me. I'm not sure I'll ever understand why.' There was more I wanted to say, but it was stuck in some kind of limbo, between the old me and the new. Yama would have gone off half-cocked, all hurt and self righteousness, determined to get answers. Harlock... Harlock had bigger problems.

She dropped into my lap, and wrapped her arms around my neck. 'The trail might be cold by now, but I'm sure there might be some way of tracking down...'

I placed one arm around her waist. With the other, I keyed up a list of the other files. 'Tracking down whoever has been responsible for the deaths of maybe three hundred scientists and technicians over the past thirty years? And these are just the ones Nami found in the system. It doesn't cover the outer worlds. I started my own check. Even putting the parameters into a news search turns up over thirty in the past two years alone. Mostly botanists and environmental scientists, but also some experts like my uncle: archaeologists, anthropologists... Oh trust me, there's a trail.'

There was one other file that still nagged at me. Months ago, talking to Zero in the few days before the current roller coaster ride we were on had truly begun. A picture, of a tropical, parasitical flower long extinct, from a once green and beautiful world now a wasteland. There were hints, in the files Tochiro had begun to unravel.

A _name_.

 ** _Rafflesia_**...

* * *

終わり.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note from the author:
> 
> I thought I'd leave these to the very end, as a load of waffle at the start of chapters would just be too distracting. But for anyone who got a bit lost as to where characters were from, or where some points came from, I thought I'd put in a "footnote" of sorts.
> 
> Firstly this was inspired by the Japanese cut of the 2013 CGI film, not the abomination that is the English dub. Why that final script was so way off base I'll never know, as a complete, reasonably accurate one was released into the wild accidentally back in 2013 by the English language distributor! I've also got the novelisation and several background documents which added to the backstory. However if there are parts where I mention events in the film and you're scratching your head, if you watched it in English, a lot of motivations were changed by cutting key scenes and changing dialogue.
> 
> PS: for those wondering: Yama, despite some fanfics around, doesn't actually lose his eye - that nano camera shuts down. He's clearly got both eyes still when that Jovian Blaster hits, and when he confronts Harlock afterwards. Though you might need to freeze frame and blow up the picture to see it!
> 
> Harlock vanishing at the end of the film was the original ending, prior to release. This was in the leaked English script. It was even spoilered in an early leaked trailer which showed Yama in Harlock's cloak at the wheel, with the throne empty behind him. Hell... it's even i the storyboard packaged with the Jp blu-ray! The film was supposed to be an "origin" story, until last minute meddling left it much less clear cut. That is to say, it's Yama's story. Since I've always had a soft spot for Young Harlock - who Yama was pretty clearly intended to become - I ran with it.
> 
> Kei's backstory, and the names of some of the Arcadia's crew, are all given in various places. Ali (big blond guy with serious 'tude) Dan, Bob, Carlos and Eddie are all named on a maquette study from the production studio (A-E - someone was having a laff!). Sabu and Yasu (two of the guys from Heavy Meldar) I named for the two crew of the Flourite who join the Arcadia's crew in Endless Odyssey. Commander Levary is from the CGI film.
> 
> Colonel Ichimonji Dantetsu and Henry Douglas are both from Danguard Ace. Maetel, Emeraldas and company need no introduction, and I'll admit to purloining a bit of Space Symphony Maetel for this, especially towards the end!
> 
> Selen, Geran, Yamori and Zero are all from the Queen Millennia TV series. Although 'Zero' didn't have a name in that, he's the cigarette smoking, trenchcoated second in command of the Millennial Thieves. I borrowed the name. Warrius won't mind! How can you not love a guy who wears sunglasses to pilot a battleship?
> 
> Laila and Rick (and the planet Mistral) are from Mugen Kido SSX, as are Anita and Zack. Commander Leopard is from SSM. Captain Hoshino is from the SPCH 1977 anime. Any inferences the reader might draw from the name of his ship are entirely their own problem... ;-)
> 
> Loki and the Phantasm are by way of Nibelung no Yubiwa - a nineties manga the rebooted the Harlock story as part of the Ring Cycle. It's not as bad as the Harlock Saga OAV based on it, but it's damn close!
> 
> The Daibas are of course from Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Tadashi's parents are named in backing documents, though there are some variants of the readings for their given names!
> 
> Rafflesia is a real plant - look it up, it's totally crazy! "Lafressia" isn't a plant, and makes no sense used as a name, so I've gone with "R", not "L". Obviously botany isn't a requirement for translators, fan or otherwise, and Japanese sources frequently don't bother too much with English spellings. (To whit the eternal "Harlock" vs "Herlock" debate Americans agonise over - meaningless in Japanese where the katakana is very specific on pronunciation (that's a long "A", folks!), and utterly incomprehensible to us Brits, where "er" and "ar" can sound the same - it's pronounced "Darby" not "Durby", guys!! I should know - I was born only 10 miles away from Derby!)
> 
> Finally, I will be revising this, now it's done, as I'm still not happy with some parts. But I need a break...!
> 
> It only remains for me to thank PollywantsaHarlock for her tireless encouragement, without which I might never have got through to the end!


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